


The Descent

by AngstOfDestiny



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Character's Name Spelled as Hanji, Character's Name Spelled as Jaeger, Depression, Disturbing Themes, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Organized Crime, Prostitution, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Self-Medication, Slurs, SnK Minibang 2016, Snk MiniBang, The Underground, Wounds, please, read the notes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 05:40:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 54,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8000620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngstOfDestiny/pseuds/AngstOfDestiny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes things don’t go according to the plan. Sometimes failures cost everything. In this case, it was Erwin’s trial that had gone wrong. The plot was discovered, Zackley arrested for a treason, Dok was bribed and Pixis didn’t want to support the lost cause. Erwin was sentenced to death and the Survey Corps were disbanded. While the Commander might be ready to pay the costs of his mistakes, neither Levi nor 104th won’t stand for it. They rescue Erwin straight from the scaffold and then Levi leads them to his old haunts. To Underground.<br/>Now they’re outlawed, hunted, far from the Walls  and cut from all the resources they had. Will they be able to still fight for the humanity or will their lives become a game of survival? How will they adapt to the new reality? Did they shed blood and lost comrades for nothing?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of SnK Minibang 2016. Art links will appear soon, separately for each chapter :)   
> I worked with three wonderful artists, check out their blogs: [Mikoto](http://wheniseelevimyheartgoesdokidoki.tumblr.com/), [pinkdiamon-d](http://pinkdiamon-d.tumblr.com/), [theangstyotakuartist](http://theangstyotakuartist.tumblr.com/)
> 
> While this work avoids any explicit NSFW scenes, be warned that the themes are rather heavy. The action takes place at least partially in the Underground and it isn't a nice place. There's an organized crime, prostitution and violence is widely considered to be a valid form of solving problems. It isn't really worse than the canon or ACWNR, but it doesn't avoid these themes. Just be aware of that.  
> There's also a (un)healthy dose of self-loathing, depression and other issues that come with depression. If anything like that is triggering for you, you might want to avoid reading. If I forgot to tag anything, just let me know. 
> 
> Otherwise - have fun. The third chapter is at works, but it should be finished somewhere this month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some art from Mikoto:  
> [ Erwin seeing Armin in the crowd](http://wheniseelevimyheartgoesdokidoki.tumblr.com/post/150282773534/suddenly-a-flash-of-a-familiar-face-in-a-crowd)  
> [ Historia opening the door ](http://wheniseelevimyheartgoesdokidoki.tumblr.com/post/150283766004/when-she-confirmed-their-identity-historia)  
> The cover and the art in the first chapter also by her.

This day wasn’t what Erwin expected, at all. The weather was amazing, sunny and warm, and the gentle breeze passed by the scaffold. It could be pleasant if he wasn’t standing before a crowd, trussed up like a fowl for a dinner, with a noose loosely hanging around his neck.

The crowd was another thing, besides nice weather, he didn’t expect on the day he dies. He suspected that when the time comes there won’t be many witnesses around, besides maybe a few soldiers who might or might not be able to save some of his body for a funeral afterwards. Now he was facing what could as well be a whole Mitras population, gathered to see the final moments of the infamous 13th Commander of the disbanded Survey Corps.

Dressed up nobles with coiffed hair, wealthy merchants in flashy frocks, soldiers off-duty, standing up as sore thumbs in their plain garments, all watching with hungry eyes for any sign of weakness from the proud soldier turned traitor.

He wasn’t going to give them any satisfaction, standing proud and tall in the tattered shirt they gave him to humiliate him further. The official was reading the list of his transgressions, some real, some made up to give the execution more flair and Erwin was listening calmly, not letting his face show anything. It didn’t really matter at all, not with the Corps gone and rest of the soldiers scattered into the wind, but it was important to him on a personal level, not to show these... scavengers, how deeply it hurt to be robbed of his life’s work, of his dreams, his plans. To lose a game he considered himself to be a master of.

Suddenly a flash of a familiar face in a crowd caught his attention. He looked back, scanning the crowd for it, but the person was gone. Deciding, that it was his tired mind playing tricks, he stopped his search, assuming a calm mask once again. He couldn’t have seen Armin. Armin was with Levi last time he heard and his last order to them was to run and hide if things went awry. Attending his execution couldn’t be called ‘hiding’ in any way and Erwin trusted Levi to enforce his orders on the younger Corpsmen. Levi was reliable like that, after all.

Reliable, loyal, determined, handsome… Erwin’s thoughts were suddenly broken up by a commotion in the far end of the plaza. A large cart, pulled by a pair of crazed horses drove into the crowd, trampling people and creating chaos. A harness on the one snapped and the scared animal run free, treading down on nobles in its way.

Erwin had a rather good view from his elevated position on the scaffold so he didn’t miss the mop of black hair erupting suddenly from the hay at the cart. A small silhouette equipped with a 3dm gear shoot low over onlookers, letting them get a good look at him, before he run for the higher ground, hooking his grapples in the balcony over his head.

“It’s him! It’s Captain Levi!” Someone shouted and Erwin lost any hope that he was daydreaming.

“What are you waiting for? Go, get them!” The official shouted, probably already counting the raise this order might get him if properly executed. The officer of the military police in charge of the guard gave his own orders and most of the soldiers fired their own gear, going after Levi. The Capitan seemed to be waiting for it, as he ceased circling the plaza and dove into a side street, leading the chase away.

As soon as they disappeared from the sight, more Corpsmen appeared, diving from the roofs into the plaza. Some went down into the crowd, fighting off the remaining guards, while Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman dropped on the scaffold, running to Erwin.

“I’m sorry, Commander, we hadn’t accounted for all the ropes”, Eren panted, getting his knife from his boot and immediately setting up to cut Erwin’s restrains, while Mikasa cut the noose with a fluid move of her sword.

“What the hell are you doing?” Erwin demanded, sensing the feeling returning to his hand as the bonds started to fall apart. “You were supposed to lay low.”

“We’re rescuing you, Commander.” Eren grinned, cutting the ropes binding Erwin’s ankles.

“Eren, hurry!” Mikasa urged him. “They noticed us!”

True to her word, some military policemen were fighting their way back to the scaffold. The officer in charge was running straight towards them, fumbling with the gun he had on his belt. Mikasa jumped towards him, placing a well-aimed kick on his head and sending him back to the ground, where he landed between panicked people.

“Eren, we’re getting out! Now!” She caught surprised Erwin at the waist and a second later Eren followed, grabbing the Commander from the other side.

“On three!” Mikasa began the countdown, while the boy smiled widely.

“Hold tight, sir!”

They fired their hooks in a perfect synchronization, pulling Erwin along with them to the roof of the tall building of the High Court.

“We need to run! This way!” Mikasa commanded, leading the way. Urged by the hand on his back, Erwin went along, trying to get together what just happened. Despite their orders, Levi and his squad apparently rescued him from the death. While a part of him was grateful for that, the other part was drowning him in doubt. They were outlaws now, all of them. No chance to carry on with their mission, no chance to do anything remotely good. Now they were going to spend their lives in hiding, and he didn’t expect these to be very long now. Without the Wall Maria they were facing a famine coming soon, if the Military Police won’t find them first. While he hoped that the rest of the Corps would soon be forgotten and left in peace, after this stunt there was no doubt that the military would hunt them mercilessly.

“Careful, Commander!” Mikasa’s voice tore him out of his thoughts. They were standing on the another edge of the roof. “We’re going to jump.” The young soldiers grabbed him once again and pulled him along in another well-synchronized jump.

“Where are we going?” He asked when they landed safely on the opposite side of the street, starting to run once again.

“The Capitan set the rendezvous point near the gates. He said something about hiding in his old place?” Eren answered, sounding a bit winded. “He didn’t tell us where exactly, so we can’t ‘fess up if caught, but I think he wants us to get to the Underground.”

The Underground. Erwin suppressed a shudder as he jumped over a knob in the roof. He didn’t think much of it, when he went down there to search for recruits, but now, when he was facing the perspective of actually living there the darkness, dankness and filth came back to him with a renewed force. He stumbled on another piece of the roof and had fallen down, barely catching himself on his good arm. His feet hurt like hell. His executioners didn’t think it was necessary to give him any boots, so now he was bleeding from numerous cuts and chafes.

“We’re close, sir. Bear with it a little while longer, please,” Eren pleaded, helping him back on his feet. “We’re going into the hiding until evening, Historia was supposed to get us some supplies and find Squad Leader Hanji. If everything went according to the plan they should be able to look you over, while we wait.”

True to his words, they soon have reached a backyard, enclosed by buildings on all sides, where Eren and Mikasa gently helped him down to the stable ground. They lead him into one of the apartment houses, through the narrow stairway and finally, knocked on an indistinctive door. Three sharp raps, stop, two more, stop, one more, longer break and finally last one. Few moments after the signal the door opened a bit and a familiar blue eye peeked from the crack. When she confirmed their identity, Historia opened the chain that held the door closed and opened it wide, smiling brilliantly.

“You made it! Commander!” She saluted sharply, stepped aside and let them in.

“I couldn’t get to Hanji”, she reported, rummaging through the sacks piled under the wall, when the door was safely closed again and Erwin sat on an old couch in the small room. “They keep in touch with the journalist, who lend us this apartment for today, so I left him a note that the Captain prepared earlier for them.” She pulled a flask and few rolls of bandages from the sacks and turned to Erwin again. “I’m not them, but these feet of yours need cleaning, Commander.”

“Levi left them a note?” The Commander asked, rubbing his eyes and letting tiredness flow over him. He was supposed to be dead right now, not burdened with new problems. It was a bit shameful to admit, but he was kind of looking forwards to it. “Isn’t it dangerous?”

Historia shrugged, kneeling beside a couch and taking one of Erwin’s feet in her hands. She poured alcohol on the rag and started to meticulously clean his injuries.

“I don’t think so. I saw it, it’s gibberish. The Capitan said that he wrote it so ‘only a nutcase could read it’. I’m more worried that they won’t be able to crack whatever code he’s used.”

Erwin smiled in spite of himself.

“If Levi said so, I believe in Hanji. They have been friends for a long time and know each other well.”

The alcohol stung on his wounds and Erwin hissed quietly when the girl run the rag along his feet. Eren and Mikasa disappeared in an adjacent room, and the soft clanking of the utensils told the Commander that they were preparing the food.

Historia was finishing wrapping his left foot and poured some fresh alcohol on the cleaning rag when the new knocking sounded. Everyone freeze, listening to the sound. Even the pair in the kitchen seemed to cease their preparations, as the flat suddenly became eerily quiet.

Three sharp sounds, two more, one, and a final one.

Historia rose to her feet, going to open the door and Jean walked in with Armin by his side, both bloody, dirty and tired. Seeing the Commander, Armin gave a small smile and moved to the bathroom, with Jean in tow, and soon the sound of running water and quiet conversation started.

As the day went by more people dribbled in: Sasha with Connie, Keiji, Floch, Nifa, even Moblit, much to Erwin’s surprise. Levi was still nowhere to be seen and with each passing hour the cold feeling in Erwin’s gut intensified. Levi made himself a bait in this rescue scenario; he was bound to be in even bigger danger than the rest.

The soldiers milled about small flat, some talking in hushed voices, some sleeping, making it feel crowded, but they mostly left him alone. Out of respect, probably, maybe to give him time to recuperate. Armin came to his side for a moment, explaining briefly what happened while he was incarcerated, Eren’s and Historia’s kidnapping and how they managed to snatch them on their way to the Reiss estate.

“It was a good thing that we managed to get them on their way. Otherwise we might not be able to get back to Mitras on time,” the boy finished his story, smiling gently. “The news about the botched plan got us in an inn where we were staying for the night after we got them out. We rode hard to get back and barely managed to prepare everything.”

Historia came to them with two bowls of stew, handling them to them with a solemn face. The sight of the girl serving them food made Erwin feel another overwhelming wave of guilt. If he did everything right, if his plan was as bulletproof as usual, Krista… no, Historia, would be on her way to claiming the crown. Now she was serving food to her inept Commander, holed away in some hole forgotten by Gods, waiting to run to even worse place.

It was almost dark and Erwin’s head was full of dark thoughts when he heard the familiar sound of grappling hooks catching stone, followed by zapping noise made by fast retracted wires. He stiffened, fully expecting the Military Police to burst into their hideout, but instead, a familiar figure appeared on the windowsill, rapping impatiently at the glass.

“Let me the fuck in, before someone sees me”, the gruff voice said and Erwin felt like crying from relief. Levi was back, seemingly untouched, stepping into the flat, while Keiji hurried to close the window behind him.

“Took you some time, Captain”, Erwin said instead, taking in the sight before him.

Levi was drenched in blood and even more grim than usual; a detail most soldiers probably didn’t notice given the Captain’s impassive face, but after all these years Erwin could read Levi’s moods like an open book. Eren, apparently, had some idea too, as he got to Levi’s side with a towel in a matter of seconds. Levi took it from the kid with a short nod.

“I’ve run into some trouble”, he said, wiping the blood of his face with disgust. Now that his face was clean… well, cleaner, the Commander noticed a deep cut on his cheek. “Goggles is dead.”

“Goggles?” Erwin inquired, not sure who Levi was referring to.

“Dieter Graner, Commander”, Nifa answered quietly. “He was in our squad.” The girl’s eyes shone with unshed tears, but she didn’t say anything else. The situation might have been out of ordinary, but if there was something that every single Corpsman mastered, it was dealing with the loss of comrades. Erwin nodded, thinking of the letter to the family he’ll probably write despite the fact, he can’t really send it anymore.

Kids from Levi’s squad were running around in a sudden rush of activity. Someone was boiling water in the kitchen, Eren, Armin and Sasha started cleaning, while Connie brought the stew over to the Captain, who accepted it absently and started to eat without sitting down.

“Fuck, I’m disgusting”, he murmured over the bowl. “We have a few hours before we can move, so I’m going to wash this shit off me. Why hasn’t anyone got the Commander some proper clothes?”

Erwin who almost forgot he was still sitting in the tattered garments from the execution raised slightly his brows watching as Jean Kirstein scrambled for the sacks at Levi’s rebuke. He hadn’t had many opportunities to watch how Levi and his new squad interacted and he was genuinely impressed.

Erwin always knew that Levi was a born leader. It was clear from their first encounters with him, as he watched him and his little friends fly around the Underground. This talent of his was however always marred by his own insecurities. The fear of not being good enough, the fear of making decisions, fear of taking the responsibility. He always performed admirably, but there was uneasiness in him, a stiffness, that showed how out of place he felt. Now it was finally gone. If not for his lack of diplomatic skills he would make a fine next Commander… But now no diplomacy was needed where they were going.

Erwin suddenly felt completely useless, a burden for all these young people (and Levi), and he almost opened his mouth to ask the Captain why he decided to rescue him, why didn’t he let him simply die… Fortunately Mikasa’s clear voice interrupted him before he managed to get the words out.

“I’ve warmed some water for you, Captain. It’s in the washing room.”

“Thanks, Ackerman,” Levi nodded and handed the empty bowl to Eren, who hurried to wash it, then went to the washing room without looking at anyone. He was still tense, Erwin saw it in the way he moved, in the way he hold his chin high up, the deeper-than-usual furrow of his brows.

He thanked Jean for provided garments when the boy came back from the sacks then stood up and followed Levi to the washroom. Kids used to the communal showers shouldn’t make a big deal of that, even if he and Levi didn’t really use the shared appliances in any of the bases.

He entered the small room quietly, holding the clothes to his chest with the stump of his arm and closing the door carefully with his good hand.

Levi stood over a small basin, scrubbing his skin furiously, with a pitcher of freshly boiled water at his right hand. Something was definitely wrong here.

“Would you give me a hand?” Erwin asked innocently, gesturing at his clothes. He learned how to dress himself without help, but it was still a clumsy, exhausting, time-consuming process.

The short man turned back from the basin, looking at the Commander attentively then nodded curtly.

“Sure, just let me get rid of that,” he answered, showing Erwin the blood- and mud stains on his skin. More importantly, though, in the brief moment in which Levi looked at him, Erwin managed to catch his eyes - which were suspiciously glassy.

He put down the garments and touched gently Levi’s shoulder.

“Talk to me. I can see something’s wrong.”

Levi said something faintly, but to Erwin’s ear it sounded more like a broken sob than articulate words. He splashed his face with lukewarm water, tried again, then turned around and suddenly buried his face in Erwin’s chest.

Erwin stiffened for a second. It was wrong. It was very un-Levi. Usually it was Erwin who sought physical comfort, not Levi clinging to him desperately, his back shaking with muffled sobs. But then instinct took over and Erwin wrapped his good arm firmly around his tiny partner, holding him close. He fought off the pet names that came to his tongue - very early in their relationship Levi stated clearly that he won’t be happy being called ‘honey’, ‘darling’, or ‘any other sappy shit’, no matter how much Erwin might be inclined to. Instead, he settled for the most tender, comforting tone he could muster.

“Levi? What’s wrong?” He asked, deeply wishing he had a second hand to run through Levi’s silky hair.

“‘E mo lo you,” came the stifled answer, and Erwin couldn’t help but smile slightly, prying Levi’s face from his chest gently.

“Come again?”

“We… Oh, fuck this shit, _I_ almost lost you,” Levi said, furrowing his brows in irritation. Now, that was more like it. Angry Levi was something Erwin knew well and knew how to deal with. This soft, sobbing mess of a man? Not so much.

“Hey, I’m fine.” He smiled softly, caressing Levi’s cheek with his good hand. “I’m alive and we’re both fine.” Levi shook his hand off, his scowl deepening.

“You don’t get it. Seeing you there… With a noose on your neck. It felt fucking _real_. I almost lost it. I didn’t know if I’d be able to act according to the plan, if I’d be able to leave you there, to trust the brats to do their part. And this fucking letter?” He shoved Erwin back, all pent up anger and grief. “ _If the plan fails, don’t come back for me_? How could you ever think that this was an option? You basically told me to let you fucking die!”

Erwin squared his shoulders, feeling his face harden into his ‘Commander mask’.  

“Levi, I didn’t want to bring up it yet, because we’re all slightly shaken and I didn’t think it was the right time. But since you started the topic, I need to remind you, that it was a missile from the Commander of the Survey Corps to his Captain, not a letter between lovers. And while I admit, that it’s pretty nice to be still breathing, I’m deeply disturbed that you ignored a direct order. It was a sound strategic decision, one that would keep you all safe and ready to take up the arms again when the occasion arises. I was ready to make this sacrifice. You had no right…”

“ _I_ wasn’t ready to make this sacrifice, Erwin”, Levi sneered. “Don’t you see that? I can’t do this without you. I can’t keep the brats safe; I can’t conjure a big scheme that will end in us retaking the Wall Maria. Neither can Hanji, wherever-the-fuck they are right now. You want us to carry on with the mission? Well, then you have to fucking lead, because we’re fucking lost without you giving your shitty orders.”

Erwin moved away from Levi, his expression barely readable in the weak light of the single candle. He studied the face of his partner for a moment in silence, then rubbed the bridge of his nose. Finally, he opened his mouth, sounding resigned.

“I am sorry, Levi. I try hard to make my decisions based on what is the best for the Humanity, not based on my personal feelings. But it wasn’t fair to you to apply the same rules to you. I should have taken your feelings into the account and think about how they may influence you, instead of expecting the impossible. But you’re an extraordinary man, Levi. Sometimes it blinds me to the fact that at the end of the day you’re still only a human.”

Levi grunted keeping his eyes fixed on the ground. When he eventually looked back at Erwin, his habitual scowl was even deeper than usual.

“I’m not sure if I want to kiss you or punch you right now,” he grumbled, before turning to the basin, getting back to his furious scrubbing. Erwin smiled.

“I’d rather have a kiss. MPs were generous enough with their punches.”

Levi’s back stiffened again.

“Shit. I’m sorry, Erwin.”

“It’s fine. May I touch you?”

“I’m dirty,” came a weak answer, but hearing no explicit ‘no’, Erwin decided to take that risk and wrapped his arm around Levi’s waist, hugging him from behind and burying his face in the dark hair.

“You know I don’t care.” He smiled into this hair, enjoying the firm body that melded into his, the smell of his partner, the warmth that came from the hug. Levi finally stopped scrubbing and relaxed into the embrace.

“You’re royally fucked up, Eyebrows,” Levi murmured and from his tone and the way in which he let himself be hold, Erwin knew that he was forgiven.

 

From this point it didn’t take them long to get washed and dressed. Levi helped Erwin with his clothes with a long-practiced skill, and while he tried to keep his touches light and functional, he couldn’t help, but linger, stroking tenderly the skin he thought he would never touch again. Erwin indulged him with a smile, keeping any remarks that might deter the surly Capitan from doing that to himself. The moment passed soon enough, though, and when they finally left the washroom, they were solemn and composed again, ready to tackle the new problems that their situation brought. The soldiers looked restless and agitated, and Erwin looked at Levi solemnly.

“Captain, since we’re all here thanks to your planning, I’d like you to give us a briefing for the next phase.”

Levi gave Erwin a heavy look, but squared his shoulders and turned to the gathered group.

“We need to wait a bit longer to make sure we won’t be followed,” he started in his usual, flat tone. “We’re going to leave the city in the night and move to an unguarded entrance to the Underground. It’s little known and we need to make sure that it stays this way, or we’re screwed. The fucks from the MPs cannot follow us there, no matter what. It’s accessible only with the use of the gear, and we’re going to scale the Inner Wall to get there, so take your time to check your gas levels and make sure that what’s left is evenly distributed. In a case of a chase we’re going to scatter and hide. If this happens, I trust you to get to the forest two miles south of the western gate. If someone doesn’t make it by the dawn, we’re going to consider them dead. And one more thing. If I catch any of you, brats, doing any acrobatics and wasting the stuff, I’ll personally cut the fucker down. We cannot waste the gas under any circumstance. We employ the gear to scale the Wall and to get to the Underground, absolutely nothing else. We’re going to need to move quietly, so Jaeger, Kirsten, I don’t want to hear any of your bickering.”

Eren straightened, looking slightly offended.

“But, sir…!”

Levi ignored him completely, but with the corner of his eye he saw as Erwin raised his hand to his mouth, covering a tiny smile.

“Once we’re in the Underground, you’re going to make a camp near the entrance, while I scout some places we could use as hideouts. Once I come back, we’ll decide where we’re going from there. Any questions?”

“Sir, why did you single me and Jean out?” Eren protested.

Levi looked at him with the narrowed eyes. These brats could be so annoying sometimes.

“Because reasons,” he deadpanned. Eren seemed to be torn between the need of defending himself and the need to hide himself from the Captain’s icy stare. “Now stop being a brat and do what I told you to. Anyone else?”

There was silence in the room while Levi looked at each and every member of the Corps gathered in the room. After a few seconds, the Captain nodded and spoke again.

“Good, dismissed. Ackerman!” He turned to Mikasa. “You’re with me on the Eyebrows-hauling duty, so make sure you have a little bit more gas. His ass is heavy as fuck.”

Mikasa snapped to attention, not at least bothered by Levi’s crude language.

“Yes, sir!” With a short nod she turned back to the rest, joining them in the assigned task.

“Levi!” It was Erwin’s turn to protest quietly. Levi shrugged slightly, keeping his face straight, but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.  
“What? What I said is true. You’re a fucking giant.”

“Levi…” This time, the name was little more than a tired sigh on Erwin’s lips. Levi turned his back to him, looking a little bit smug.

“Gimme a moment. I need to check my tanks too,” he managed to say, just before the frantic knocking to the door made everyone freeze.

It wasn’t a code; it wasn’t a gentle knocking that could be used by the flatowner’s friend who might come to visit, not aware that the host isn’t currently here. It was aggresive, loud banging on the door of someone very angry, very scared or trying to intimidate the people inside.

“Levi, let me in right now!” The Captain relaxed a bit, striding to the doors immediately. It was Hanji, sounding borderline panicked, but still Hanji. “We’ve got trouble!”

He opened the door in a sudden gesture, making Hanji, who apparently was almost flattened against the door surface, to stumble and fall inside on their knees. Levi eyed the scene with disgust, clicking his tongue and closing the door back.

“Tch. Shitty Four-Eyes. Why can’t you even knock like a normal person?”

“Damn, Levi, there’s no time,” Hanji gathered themselves from the floor, as Erwin approached, looking at them seriously.

“What’s going on, Squad Leader?”

“The journalist I was working with? The guy who made this place available for us? He’s been taken by the MPs for the interrogation. He’s a decent guy, but he’s only a civilian. There’s no telling when he gives up our location. We need to move right now, the MPs might be on their way as we speak.”

“Shit,” Levi cursed under his breath, then raised his voice. “Brats! Did you hear that? We’re moving out. Gear up, split the supplies, I want us on the move in five!”

Keiji raised his head from where he was squatting over the gas tank.

“But we aren’t finished yet, Captain,” he protested weakly. Levi turned around, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

“I don’t care, soldier. Things changed, now get to your fucking orders.”

He didn’t wait for the answer, instead starting to check the harness of his gear, which he loosened slightly during the washing. As Mikasa finished strapping her tanks and moved to get a sack from a pile under the wall, he stopped her, without tearing his eyes away from the straps on his thigh.

“Not you, Ackerman. Leave the baggage to the rest. I can’t have you weighted down.”

The girl opened her mouth as if she wanted to protest, but after getting a second look at the Captain, who moved to adjusting the stripes on his second leg, closed it and moved away from the supplies.

Amidst the fuss of preparations it was only sheer luck that Levi managed to catch the heavy footfalls downstairs and clink of the grapple hooks hitting the stone somewhere above the kitchen window.

“Fuck! They’re here! Move out! Leave what you can’t grab and go through the main room’s window!”

Soldiers hurried towards the window, blocking each other’s ways and Levi narrowed his eyes, preparing to bellow another scathing order, but before he managed to react, Erwin’s calm voice broke through the fuss.

“Keep order! Hanji, take a lead for now. Levi, calm down.”

Shit. Was it that bad or was it just the usual Erwin’s acuteness? Levi didn’t have much time to ponder on that, but he closed his eyes for a second, drawing a deep breath in attempt to calm his banging heart. The MPs were already here and he failed to take Erwin to the safety yet.

“Ackerman, get here. We’re going!” He commanded as he opened his eyes again, gesturing for Erwin to move to the window. About half of the gathered Corpsmen were already outside, jumping towards the Wall. Levi tsked irritably, hoping that Hanji has enough brains to lead MPs away from their destination. Erwin and Mikasa moved beside him to stand on the windowsill and Levi caught the Commander’s belt, feeling that the grumpy teenager did the same on the man’s second side. With a curt nod at her he fired his grapple, hoping that the practice Mikasa had with Eren will suffice to safely carry Erwin through the city.

Speaking of Eren, the boy just propelled himself for a jump with the gas where the winch would be enough.

“Oi, brat! Save your fucking gas!” He shouted after the teen, who answered something back. The wind drowned the words and he honestly hoped that it was ‘yes, sir’, not some cheeky comeback.

What the wind hasn’t drowned, were the sounds of pursuit. MPs managed to notice that they used the opposite window to run away and they were gaining fast on them, not restricted with the 3dmg use by the lack of fuel. The worst thing was that with Erwin weighing him down he couldn’t even turn back and fight, neither could Mikasa. Their two best warriors were restrained by their carrying duty.

He probably should have left Erwin to someone else, but even now, the very idea send chills down his spine. Trusting Erwin to somebody less proficient with the gear was unimaginable, even leaving him to Mikasa and Eren was really difficult, despite the fact that he trusted in the girl’s skills and brat’s determination.

There was no time to think about it right now, however, as the enemies were approaching fast and soon they were going to get into the firing range. He couldn’t let that happen, not with such a precious cargo.

Now it was time to employ the strategy discussed before.

“Scatter!” He shouted, hoping that the rest of the Scouts will be able to hear it. With a sharp tug on the arm holding Erwin he got Mikasa’s attention and signaled her with his head to move right. The girl nodded and shot her grapple in the indicated direction, following Levi’s orders. With a corner of the eye he noticed that Eren and Armin jumped in different directions, hiding from the sight. Keiji zipped over their heads and run farther, disappearing too. Good.

The weight of Erwin on his arm was starting to border on painful, as they flew to the low hood he spotted before. They should be able to dive below that and then…

The sudden bang and a sharp pain in his arm made him cry out loud in surprise and interrupted his thoughts. For a second, he almost lost his grip on the 3dmg’s handle, subconsciously clutching stronger at the Erwin’s belt.  

Warm stump of the Commander’s arm pressed into his back, grounding him in the reality, while he heard panicked Mikasa’s shout.

“Sir!?”

“Get down, Levi”, Erwin commanded quietly at the same second, his voice almost getting drowned by the teen’s.

“‘m fine”, he gritted through his clenched teeth, fixing his grip on the handle despite the agonizing pain in his arm. His fingers didn’t seem to work too well, but through the sheer stubbornness, he managed to do it before the gear fell out of his hand. He aimed his hooks in coordination with Mikasa, trusting the girl for a second with the lead. While they were diving under the low roof, the shout behind him made his blood freeze.

“Get Smith and the midget first!” He heard the familiar voice. “The rest we can flush out later!”

“Shit, shit, shit, shit!” He cursed, retracting his wires, and urging his companions to run. “Run and don’t you fucking dare to stop.”

There were questions written all over the faces of both Mikasa and Erwin, but while the girl was opening her mouth to speak, the Commander pushed her slightly to move. Levi was grateful for that. It wasn’t a time for talking.

The MPs seemed to lose them from their sight for a second, but it didn’t mean they were off the hook. They were going to land soon and Levi realized in a moment of terrifying clarity, that now, wounded and running out of the gas, he wasn’t sure if he was able to protect Erwin. Not against Kenny and who-knows-how-many of his cronies.

He looked around, searching for some solution, only to discover that the area looked vaguely familiar.

“Fuck! I know where we are!” He hissed, gesturing for Erwin and Mikasa to follow. There was a derelict shop not even a block away, which he used a few times as a hideout when he managed to get some jobs that took him from the Underground for a while. If only the building was still standing…

It was. The gap between the old planks barricading the entrance was narrower than he remembered, but they should make it, if only Erwin managed to fit through it. With an impatient frown he gestured the blonde giant to go first, and Erwin did, no questions asked. Something in Levi’s chest clenched at the incredible amount of trust Erwin gave him, but the sound of heavy footfalls and shouting didn’t allow him to focus on these emotions. As Erwin finally squeezed through it was only a matter of seconds for him and Mikasa to get inside.

Just as his feet disappeared inside, he saw uniform boots appearing between the boards and passing through. Fighting the overwhelming urge to dust himself, he froze in place, barely daring to breathe. The second set of boots appeared, then the third and raised voices came through the entrance.

“They just were here, they couldn’t just disappear!”

“They must be somewhere, search the area.”

“What about here?”

One of the MPs turned to the entrance of the very building they were in, peering through the planks. Levi’s heart started to beat faster, the sound of blood rushing through his veins so loud that he felt a pang of irrational fear that they would hear it. The darkness of the evening thankfully covered them, despite the fact that Levi lied bare inches from the entrance, and the soldier stepped aside.

“Can’t see a thing there. But look at these planks. Ackerman might have fit in here, but there’s no way he would leave Smith alone. And Smith is too big to get through these gaps. They must be somewhere else.”

Another man approached, seemingly trying to assess the holes himself.

“Yeah, you’re right. Smith is a big guy, and a cripple at that. They must be somewhere else. Spread out and search for them!” The last sentence was a shouted order, clearly addressed to a bigger group.

When the voices moved away Erwin let out a quiet snicker.

“For Walls’ sake. I just miss an arm. It doesn’t make me any bigger,” he whispered, with a strained amusement. It was clear for Levi that he was torn between the relief of not being found and the hurt of being dismissed as a ‘cripple’. The Captain shrugged, finally letting his breath out.

“I don’t give a shit about your hurt feelings if they are big enough morons to decide to leave this place alone. Now shut up, they might come back any second.”

There was silence for a while, but then Erwin started again.

“I didn’t…” Levi didn’t let him finish. He could imagine what he was going to say next. ‘I didn’t say anything about my feelings’, ‘I didn’t feel hurt’ or something like that. He was so attuned to the man that sometimes he could _swear_ he knew what he was thinking without even looking, like there was some creepy, invisible wire connecting them and letting him look into his head.

“Save your bullshit for the others, Eyebrows. And shut it.”

There was a louder inhale of breath from Mikasa. Not exactly a gasp, but as close to gasp as he ever heard from the stoic girl. Shit. In the stress they almost forgot about the kid. Usually they tried to keep this kind of banter private.

There was nothing to say, and they had to be quiet anyway, so Levi closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds outside and trying to judge what their pursuers are doing. They were still in the area, but started to move away. In a few hours they should be able to leave for the Wall.

As the time passed and the adrenaline ebbed away he became more and more aware of the bullet wound in his shoulder. The injury seemed to become more painful with every second that passed and when he finally decided to move into a sitting position, he had to bit on his lips to stifle a pathetic whimper that threatened to break away.

The creepy wire thing apparently worked both ways. While he managed to not make a sound, and the darkness hid his expression pretty well, something alarmed Erwin.

“You should show me your arm, Levi”, he whispered in the darkness.

“Tch. Do you have shit for brains, Erwin?” He hissed, settling himself more carefully against the wall. He tried to avoid aggravating the wound, but it hurt anyways. “It’s dark as fuck. There’s nothing you can do now.”

“At least let’s wrap in something it so you won’t bleed out before we can even get away from here.”

The Idiot Eyebrows had a point, even if it pained Levi to admit it. His shirt was already gross, stiff and sticky at the same time, and every time he moved a new wave of foul warmth seemed to seep from the wound, drenching his clothes even more. And when he didn’t focus on the pain, he could tell that he was starting to get slightly light-headed, no matter how much he wanted to ignore it.

“I don’t have anything to spare for the bandages anyway. This fucking shirt is already soaked through,” he whispered gruffly, trying to mask his undesired weakness.

There was a shuffling sound on his left side, where Mikasa was sitting and soon enough the girl touched his arm blindly with something soft.

“It won’t be the best bandage possible, but it should help with the bleeding at least a little”, she said, keeping her voice even lower than Levi. “Let me help, sir.”

Levi wanted to refuse, but then realized what she was holding. This soft fabric could be only the red scarf she never took off. While he didn’t know the story behind this odd piece of clothing, he understood that it was an important thing for her. If she offered… Well, he could be known for his rudeness, but he wasn’t a total asshole. Apparently she decided that his wellbeing was important enough to risk something she treasured. It would be a shitty thing to do to stop her under these circumstances. And when he analyzed the situation he reluctantly agreed that she even might be right. He was the only person in the Corps who knew how to get to the Underground without alerting any guards, not to mention, that there was no way that Mikasa could carry Erwin through the Wall on her own. He needed to be in the best shape possible.

He nodded his consent, then realized that in the darkness there wasn’t a big chance she’d seen that.

“Fine”, he murmured, a little bit annoyed that the teenage girl seemed to have a better grasp on the situation than him at the moment.

He heard her moving quietly.

“It’s a right arm, sir, right?” She asked, and when he confirmed sullenly, she touched his back carefully.

“I need to feel up my way, sir, I’m sorry if…”

He tsked irritably.

“Just do what you have to do, and stop talking. The MPs are still in the area.”

The girl thankfully shut up and focused on the wound. It hurt as hell when her hand accidentally brushed through the injured area, trying to assess the damage, but Levi bit down on his lip, swallowing any sounds he could make.

The bullet was still inside, he could almost feel the damn thing - or so he imagined. There was however no chance to get it out in their current situation. The makeshift bandage had to suffice.

He tried to distract himself from pain, listening to the sounds outside. He couldn’t really focus, but the search was still going on, that much was clear.

“We’re going to be trapped here for a while”, Erwin voiced his thoughts. The creepy wire thing again. “You two might as well rest a little, while I keep watch.”

Levi wanted to protest, just on the principle, but even his stubbornness wasn’t endless. He trusted Erwin with his life and was sure that the Commander would warn them on time if any immediate danger appears. And they were still going to have to scale the Wall, carrying the giant up there. Mikasa was strong, but she could get tired as everyone else and he was wounded, which definitely limited his usefulness.  

“Alright. Ackerman, we’re getting some shuteye when you finish,” he whispered. He wasn’t happy with that, but there wasn’t much to be happy with in their situation anyway. “Erwin, wake us up as soon as they leave the area. We need to move as soon as possible.”

“Of course, Levi.” There was softness in Erwin’s voice that would make him uneasy in their current company, if he wasn’t so fucking tired and hurting. As it was, he just exhaled softly, waiting for Mikasa to finish her fumbling with the scarf, and as soon as the girl moved away, he lied down on the hard ground.

It wasn’t easy to fall asleep to the throbbing pain and the tense atmosphere, with the 3dm gear still stepped on, but Levi had worse. Soon, much sooner than he would like to, he woke up to a gentle hand combing through his hair. It was quite pleasant, until Levi remembered that he hadn’t had a proper shower for the last few days and his hair was awfully greasy.

“Tch. Don’t touch me. I’m gross”, he grumbled sleepily and shooed Erwin’s hand away. The blonde dumbhead actually bend down and kissed the top of Levi’s head, putting his face straight into the said, disgusting hair.

“You’re never gross to me, Levi”, Erwin whispered, stroking gently his cheek. Levi could clearly hear the smile in his voice. The Captain sat up, balking from the touch.

“Now _you’re_ gross”, he complained. “I understand they’re gone, since you have time for this bullshit?”

“Yeah. I think they left at least forty minutes ago. I wanted to be sure before I woke you. We should have at least two hours before dawn.”

Levi nodded, satisfied, forgetting again than in the darkness his gesture wouldn’t be seen. Erwin seemed to catch his mood anyway as the smile was still present in his voice when he spoke again.

“I’ll wake up Mikasa and we can move out, alright?”

“Yeah”, Levi agreed, absently testing the strength of his grip. While the arm still hurt as fuck, the thing that most concerned him was that he almost released the handles of the gear when he was shot and that his grip seemed to be weakened by the wound.

“We’re going to have to switch sides and you’ll have to hold to me when we mov…” He didn’t manage to finish sentence, as Erwin’s lips found his in a soft, reassuring kiss. Levi froze, torn between the need of reciprocating the kiss and the urgency of their situation.

“What the fuck, Erwin?” He managed finally, glaring at his partner in the darkness.

“Give me a few minutes, Levi”, Erwin pleaded, his breath ghosting on the Captain’s lips. “I missed you terribly and when I thought yesterday I was going to die, my biggest regret was that I didn’t cherish you enough, that I haven’t got enough of you, your kisses and your touches. We can worry about all this stuff in a moment. Please, now, just let me…” He kissed Levi once again, and this time the Captain didn’t have a heart to move away.

“Just a second, shithead”, he managed to murmur between the kisses, and then Erwin’s hand was in his hair, tugging him forward into the embrace. His tongue gently licked the seam of the Levi’s lips, slowly coaxing them to open, and while Levi wanted to be his stubborn, grumpy self, he too was shaken from the events of the last days. He felt better after shouting at Erwin in the washroom, but the need to reaffirm that they both survived and had each other was still strong enough for him to forget for a second about the danger and the teenager sleeping just beside them.  

He fisted his hands in Erwin’s shirt, ignoring the burning sensation in his back as he flexed his muscles, leaning into the kiss, tasting, feeling, breathing in his lover. Erwin was warm, and firm, and _real_ , and smelled amazing despite the fact, that neither of them washed enough lately. He was also impossibly hot, ravishing Levi’s mouth without holding back, and then he did that _thing_ with his tongue that never failed to draw a moan from the reserved man, so of course Levi _moaned_ , desperate and hungry for more… Just to push Erwin away when he heard shuffling and a loud inhale of breath beside them.

“Fuck!” He breathed out, anger and embarrassment flaring through him at the thought of the witness. The fact that said witness was their subordinate and a fucking _teenager_ , made the feelings even worse. “One day I’m going to kill you, fuckhead, for pulling stunts like that, and it’s going to be well-deserved.”

“You won’t”, Erwin sounded pretty satisfied with himself and completely unperturbed by the fact that they woke up Mikasa with their making out session. “You like me too much.”

“Fucker”, Levi moved to the entrance of the building, peering through the boards.

Mikasa, being a pretty sensible girl, made no comment, apparently not willing to subject herself to Levi’s wrath. The smugness that emanated from Erwin was, however, almost a tangible thing, pissing the Captain to no end. It was unfortunately not a time or place to throw a fit, no matter how tempting the idea was, so Levi forced these feelings down, trying to assess the situation on the street.

“Alright, we’re good to go. I want us to walk as far as possible; we’re running on fumes after yesterday. Ackerman, when it comes to carrying this fool, we’re switching sides today. I can’t trust my right arm with the gear. Fucking Eyebrows, you’re going to have to hold onto me. I don’t want to drop your fat ass because of the wound acting up.”

Erwin was opening his mouth to say something stupid, which Levi again more sensed than saw. Before he managed to make the situation even worse, the Captain interrupted.

“Give me one reason, Erwin, and I _will_ fucking drop you.”

The Commander chuckled softly, the sound both annoying and doing weird things to Levi’s insides, but thankfully he refrained from giving any more smartass comments.

 

They moved out in a matter of seconds, pushing themselves through the narrow opening between the planks onto the street. The city was silent, in a way that brought unpleasant vision of a tomb into Erwin’s mind. They moved quietly too, the intruders in the city that used to celebrate their bravery. Oh, who was he kidding. Mitras never celebrated the Corps, always treating them like dangerous madmen, whose intentions were deeply suspicious. The danger to their wellbeing and convenient status quo. Now it just became official.

He looked up at Levi, who was taking the lead, moving through the dark streets like a ghost. If Erwin didn’t know that his partner was there, he probably wouldn’t notice the catlike silhouette in the shadows. Mikasa was almost as good as Levi, Erwin couldn’t hear any sound behind him where she was supposed to keep the guard. Between these two, the Commander - did he even have a right to still use that title? - felt incredibly clumsy and heavy, not suited to the stealthy moves in the darkness at all.

Rationally he knew that he was far from clumsy, even if he lacked the ethereal grace of his lover. He was able to walk softly and hide in crooks and niches well enough. Still, the self-depreciating thoughts came to him unbidden, somehow feeling more natural than a rational reasoning. This fact should probably alert him that something was wrong, but it didn’t work as well, when he was also overwhelmed with the guilt for the last accidents. If not for him, Levi wouldn’t be wounded, wouldn’t have to get back to the Underground he so wished to leave, the kids would have beds and food on the table, Hanji would still have their lab and could focus on their crazy theories… Somewhere along the line Erwin made a mistake that cost them all. If he just was smarter, tougher, less self-contented, he could probably see it and make it right. Continue with their mission, save the Humanity… His shoulders stooped down. There it was. Who said that he even could do something for the Humanity. That he could ever fix the harm he did to his father. That he was worth anything under the cocky surface.

He stumbled, and almost fell down on his face, but Levi was at his side in an instant, grabbing his arm and keeping him upright. He tsked in annoyance, the mix of disapproval and worry clear in his narrow eyes.

He fucked up again. Levi would probably say something about keeping his head up in his ass, and he would be right. He couldn’t even walk straight now, the fact an annoying jab at the effort his soldiers made to save his life. He wasn’t worth their dedication, he wasn’t worth Levi’s love, he wasn’t worth the faith they still put in him.

Wallowing in his self-pity he didn’t even notice as they finally reached the Wall undisturbed. Levi sighed, flexing his back carefully. The sound tore Erwin out of his reverie and drawn his attention to his Captain’s frown, even deeper than usual. The makeshift bandage made of the red scarf didn’t look in the darkness like much more than a bulky shape over Levi’s shoulder, still for Erwin it stuck out like a sore thumb. The very thought of his lover forced to haul him up the tall structure and possibly aggravating his injury more made Erwin ache. He wanted to suggest that they should leave him here, just look after themselves, but he knew what Levi’s reaction would be.

The Captain gave him a hard look, like he knew what he was thinking about - and as far as Erwin knew, he actually might. He still didn’t really understand how it worked, but they had this mysterious connection of souls that allowed them to communicate not only without words, but even without looking. Sometimes he chalked it up to years spend beside each other, but deep inside he knew that this union was something much more profound. He worked and fought with Mike and Hanji even longer and they never reached this level of understanding. It was all Levi.

“Wake up, dumbass”, his grouchy lover whispered harshly, looking up at him with an annoyed expression that would be pretty off-putting to anyone else, but for Erwin was oddly charming. “We’re going up, so pay attention.”

Erwin could only nod, as Levi and Mikasa took their places at his sides and prepare for unpleasant pull. While he always enjoyed flying with the gear, the speed and freedom of that, but being hoisted up like a sack of potatoes, was far from being his favorite thing. In fact, if not for Levi and his stubbornness, he would flat-out refuse being exposed to this again, fully preferring marching to the nearest Military Police post and offering himself for the delayed execution. With Levi it wasn’t an option, however, for he knew perfectly well that the tiny soldier would go with him, subjecting himself for death or a lifetime of imprisonment without a blink of the eye.

So, for Levi’s sake, and only for him, he grabbed Levi by the cross of the harness stripes at his back, where he knew he would interfere with the gear as little as possible, allowed both of his companions grab at his belt and gritted his teeth, preparing himself for the terrifying feeling of being pulled up the Wall.

The worst of it was the complete lack of control, he decided, as Levi and Mikasa shot out their grapples and activated the windlass mechanisms. While he trusted Levi without reservations and was pretty confident in Mikasa’s skills, accidents happened and he couldn’t stop thinking of the sweat gathering on the hands, making them slick, of the high fall when such a hand lost its grip throwing them perilously out of balance. Of the Levi’s wound, making his grasp on Erwin’s waist unsure. He didn’t have any delusions: if just one of them accidentally let go, there was no chance that the second person would able to keep him from falling. There was also the matter of the hard surface of the Wall, sliding with a high speed before his eyes. Without having his own set of gear, he couldn’t really balance and shield himself from accidentally slamming into it if any of his companions failed to adjust their weight right for even a second. While he had probably worse, the vision of crushing every bone in his body on the solid stone was far from pleasant. And there was, lastly, the simple discomfort of being pulled by the waist without a proper harness that would distribute the pressure and his weight evenly. As skilled and talented as both ravenheads were, there was no way to avoid the split-second difference between them engaging their gear and thus, Levi was tugging him a little bit further up than Mikasa, having shot his grapples a blink of an eye earlier. The difference was absolutely minimal and wouldn’t matter even in most complicated maneuvers, but was enough to put a painful strain on his already battered and bruised body.

Thankfully, the whole jump was short, taking them mere seconds, and soon he stumbled on the top of the wall, scrapping his knees in an ungraceful landing.

“Are you alright?” Levi asked, jerking at his belt to prevent him from falling on his face. It hurt a little, especially when the clasp of his belt dug into a big bruise on his stomach, caused by MP’s tender handling, but Erwin suspected that it wasn’t even a fraction of the pain that the sudden stress on the injured muscle must have caused the Captain.

“Yeah, I’m good”, he answered, hating how strained his voice came out. Levi looked at him carefully, but after a second nodded.

“Good. This part of Wall is practically unmanned. We can take a short breather before getting on the another side.”

Erwin raised his brows in a slight surprise.

“Well, I know that the Inner Walls have weak crews, but the Garrison is patrolling them from time to time.”

Levi cracked one of his almost invisible smiles, small twitch of the corner of his lips, barely visible in the moonlight.

“It’s not the first time I’m jumping this Wall, Erwin. And some things don’t change. Yes, they have their patrols schedules written down, and they do some walks for a show during the day, but never this late at night. If there are no Titans and folks don’t watch them preening up here, what’s the point of hauling their asses all the way to the top? Don’t tell me that you believed that the inner Garrison actually does their jobs. They are hardly better than the MPs.”

Erwin sighted, small smile forming on his lips despite his generally foul mood.

“I would have never guessed that someday I would be happy to hear that some branches of military consist of even bigger slackers than I thought.”

“That’s what happens when you fall with the bad crowd.” It was hard to read his expression and Levi’s voice was flat as usual, but Erwin sensed an odd mix of amusement and self-hatred that made something in his gut clench.

“You were never a ‘bad crowd’, Levi”, he said softly, putting his hand on the nape of Levi’s neck and massaging gently. The smaller man shrugged.

“I’m a sewer rat who’s going back to the sewers. I’m the very definition of ‘bad crowd’.”

Much to their surprise they heard Mikasa’s soft voice.

“So it’s really true, Captain? You were born down there?”

Levi’s face closed abruptly, frown deepening as he looked at the girl.

“Born and raised. Don’t tell me that you little shits didn’t gossip about that after light’s out.”

Mikasa shrugged.

“Well, I’ve heard. But I was never interested in the rumors, and you don’t seem…” She trailed off, looking embarrassed.

“Well, it’s true”, Levi snapped. “And it’s probably the reason why I am such a short fuck. And why I didn’t get myself killed yet. Satisfied?”

“I am sorry, sir. I shouldn’t have asked.” There was a short silence, and suddenly Mikasa was speaking again. “How is it down there?”

Levi was tense, as Erwin could easily tell, and a new wave of guilt came crashing down on him when the Captain barked again.

“This is not a story time, Ackerman. You’ll see soon enough.”

Erwin had promised him sun and the wide world behind the Walls. Not a pitiful return to his old prison.

“Are you two ready? I’d like to get it over with”, he asked, not particularly in a rush to be dangling helplessly between his two best soldiers, but desperate for a distraction.

“Yes, sir”, Mikasa answered immediately, Levi just nodded, looking grim. Well, grimmer than usual.

The descent was, in some ways, even worse than the way up. For starters, it was much longer. They couldn’t just jump down and slow themselves halfway down by firing the hooks, as they would probably do if they were all capable of using the 3dm gear. No, with Erwin’s dead weight they had to abseil slowly, carefully, taking their time. Which meant more time for him to be spend in the state of this awful, enforced helplessness, Levi’s and Mikasa’s arms the only thing between him and plummeting to death down the Wall.

Erwin was hyperaware of the deep drop under them, of the strained muscles of both of his assistants, of the warm blood seeping again through the fabric of the Mikasa’s scarf and staining Erwin’s shirt where his sleeve pressed to the dressing. His foot slipped on the loose rock in the Wall’s surface and in a flash of primal fear he tugged stronger at Levi’s harness searching instinctively for a better grip. The smaller man couldn’t stop a low hiss of pain and Erwin’s heart sank down. For a second he contemplated just letting go, falling to his death preferable to causing Levi more pain, but he grit his teeth, chasing the thought away.

He didn’t deserve to live and was pretty sure that Levi would be better off without him, but a flashback of Levi’s pained face in the washroom of the small flat reminded him, that the Captain wouldn’t agree, despite all reason. And dying now, this way, after all the pain and trouble Levi went through just to keep him alive… Well, it would be an unforgivable waste of his efforts.

“I’m sorry”, he said instead, pushing away his conflicted emotions and concentrating on Levi. His Captain barely opened his mouth as he answered through teeth.

“‘ts fine. Just focus.”

The lack of expletives was as telling as a spirited ‘fuck’ would be in someone else’s mouth. He was tired and hurting and desperate to bring them all to the safety.

After the time that seemed to stretch into an eternity, their boots finally made contact with soft grass on the base of the Wall. They all relaxed, even Mikasa let out a louder exhale.

“That’s the forest I spoke about”, Levi said, waving his hand in the direction of the dark shadow on the horizon. “We should get there before the dawn.”

 

If Levi had the slightest inclination for a poetic speech, he would say, that the world was a pain. As it was, the word that came back to his mind repeatedly was ‘shit’.

He had worse before. Probably. It was, after all, just a small hole in his back. But the strain he had to put on it dragging Erwin’s heavy ass around, coupled with the fact that the damned bullet was still lodged somewhere between his flesh and bones, moving when he moved, made his vision turn black more often that he’d like to admit.

He didn’t even really register the strong arm wrapping around him until he leaned into Erwin’s firm body. It wasn’t the most comfortable position to walk and he briefly considered moving away, knowing that Erwin would never hold him against his will. When he stumbled on a rough patch of grass, however, not sure if he lost his footing because of an exhaustion or the pain that was dulling his senses, he reluctantly let his lover to support and guide him, as for a moment, Erwin’s steady shoulder was the only thing that stopped him from falling on his face. Prideful he might be, but even he recognized that faceplanting between bugs and animal shit would feel much worse than allowing to be helped, no matter how much irked him, that he _needed_ that help.

It was hard to tell how long they walked in silence. For Levi it seemed like an eternity, but when they finally reached the cover of the trees and he managed to lift his head and look on the sky, the first signs of day only started to break out on the horizon. They had still time before the sunrise.

“Mikasa, go scout ahead, try to find the rest. This forest is bigger than I thought”, he heard Erwin say and suddenly realized that he zoned out again. “We need to get him to Hanji and supplies as soon as possible, but I don’t think he’s in shape to walk aimlessly through the undergrowth.”

Levi wanted to protest, to say that he’s alright, but his tongue turns into a cotton in his mouth.

“Yes, sir”, he heard the girl answer and then, as an afterthought: “I’ll bring help here.”

“Good thinking”, Erwin agreed and Levi could hear a smile in his voice. There was some rustling and a familiar hand guided him down, to lie under the trees. He wanted to protest, but didn’t have enough energy left. Erwin sat down too, pulling Levi’s head into his lap and helping him to arrange himself in a way that wouldn’t put any new pressure on the wound.

Warm fingers run through Levi’s bangs and it was pleasant in a way, even if he’s still tense both from the pain and the vain need to be awake, aware of his surroundings and prepared to protect Erwin from any danger.

“Calm down”, the Commander told him softly. “We’re alone for now, I’ll keep watch. Try to rest some. You deserve it.”

Despite his stubbornness, Levi couldn’t find it in himself to fight anymore, so he just pushed his face into a muscled thigh and drifted away, hearing Erwin’s low chuckle above his head.

When he woke up, still feeling disoriented, the first thing he registered was an obnoxious sound of Hanji’s voice.

“Let me see the poor thing, Erwin”, they chirped. “Oh, look, the shortstack’s grumpy even when he’s unconscious.”

“He’s in pain, Hanji. I think that it warrants some grumpiness”, Erwin’s calm voice answered. Levi furrowed his brows. He wasn’t ‘grumpy’. His back hurt and his head was going to explode from the noise, and they were, overall, in a shitty situation. He felt perfectly excused to be in a shitty mood.

“Shut up, Shitty Glasses,” he murmured faintly, trying to push himself upright. The pain flared through his body, proving that it wasn’t his brightest idea. Still, he managed to sit up and fix Hanji with one of his famous glares. “Your screeching will scare off all the animals and lure the MPs in.”

“Grumpy, angry and pretends he doesn’t like me”, Hanji listed, rummaging through the sack they brought with them. “It’s my professional medical opinion that he’s going to be alright.” Erwin tried to muffle a chuckle, but wasn’t really successful, earning himself another of Levi’s death stares.

“I _don’t_ like you”, Levi stated firmly, but Hanji ignored him completely.

“Turn around, Shorty. We’re going to need to take your shirt off. Can you raise your arms?” They asked, this time using their much calmer, ‘doctor’ voice.

As much as he would like to be difficult, what he wanted even more was to get rid of the fucking ball of lead in his back, so he reluctantly moved his arms over his head. He couldn’t really stop the sound of pain but he managed to tune it down to a low hiss instead of scream. It wasn’t a comfortable position, not with the wound acting up, but he managed to hold it until Hanji divested him of Mikasa’s scarf and his shirt.

As he let his arms fall down, he felt an opened vial being pushed into his good hand.

“It’s going to hurt as hell, Levi”, Hanji told him calmly. “With the situation we’re in I’m not going to give you anything really strong, but this should take an edge of it without leaving you completely helpless. I understand if you don’t want it, but if I start digging in your back without any painkillers you’re probably going to pass out.”

Levi nodded; looking at the vial for a second then swallowing the bitter liquid in one go. For someone as insufferable as them, Hanji actually understood quite well what made him tick. Just for that Levi liked them much more than he let on, but there was no way he would admit it out loud.

The scientist waited for a moment as a blessed numbness took over his body before they started manipulating with his wound. Levi couldn’t see what they were doing, but the pain was everything they promised. Even with a working painkiller his jaws hurt from keeping the sounds in, and his whole upper body felt like on fire. Erwin’s hand found his and he reflexively squeezed so hard that his fingernails left red crescents in his lover’s skin.

After a long while Hanji let out a relieved sigh.

“I think I got it out. It doesn’t seem to be splinted, so there shouldn’t be anything left in the wound. I’m going to clean it and sew it shut now, but if there is any swelling or pus coming out of it, we’re going to need to do it once again. Hopefully somewhere cleaner.”

Levi just nodded, not trusting himself yet enough to speak. Instead, he heard Erwin’s clear voice.

“Thank you Hanji, I’ll pay attention.”

Levi grated his teeth. No matter how much trusted and cherished Erwin, the unspoken implication that he wasn’t able to look after himself was annoying. There was also the matter that while Hanji knew about their relationship and didn’t gave a fuck (they even told him once they ‘shipped them hard’, whatever that was supposed to mean), there must have been other soldiers present, even if he didn’t notice them so far in his weakened state.  He almost opened his mouth to protest, but then Hanji was pouring some stinging liquid on his wound, and while it didn’t hurt half as much as the digging, he still had to bite on his lip to stay quiet.

Moments later the wound was sewn shut and something grossly wet landed on his freshly cleaned skin. Before he started to argue, Hanji took out a bandage and started to dress the wound, quietly explaining.

“I know it feels gross to you, but the poultice will numb the area and speed up the healing process. You need it.”

The word ‘poultice’ made Levi shiver - he had seen Hanji’s lab and the things they sometimes used as ingredients for the drugs, but wisely he stopped himself from asking what was in this particular medicine. If he knew, he would probably tear it down, hurting himself even more in the process. This way he could probably try to believe that there were only herbs used. And he didn’t doubt Hanji when they told him that he actually needed it.

It took him a while before he managed to convince himself that the much needed medicine actually _wasn’t_ disgusting. He still wasn’t entirely successful, when he asked:

“So, you’re going to put it on me again?”

“Yeah, we’re going to need to change it twice a day.” Hanji sounded actually apologetic, which again made him question the ingredients. Fortunately, Erwin cleared his throat and turned to someone Levi still didn’t see, facing the tree as he was.

“Have you brought some clothes? The shirt the Captain was wearing is completely ruined.”

“Yes, sir”, Eren said as Levi reluctantly turned to see who had seen him being tortured by Four Eyes. There was Mikasa, standing guard several meters away, Sasha, of course munching on something he couldn’t see clearly and Eren with a bag he was currently digging through.

“I’ve brought a button-up, sir”, Eren said, finally fishing out said piece of clothing. “I thought it would be easier to put on with your wound…”

Levi tsked quietly.

“Just give it to me”, he grumbled, stretching out his hand for the shirt. Eren, for some unexplained reason blushed, as he hurried up to give the garment to Levi.

He dressed himself slowly, pointedly rejecting the offers of help both from Erwin and Eren and raised to his feet, buttoning his shirt up sluggishly.

“Fine, let’s go”, he commanded, when he was finished. “Is everyone already here?”

“Yes, sir”, Eren answered hurriedly. “At least everyone who will make it. When we scattered most of the MPs run after the three of you, making escape easier, but Floch had run out of gas and was shot. We didn’t even have a chance to double back and check on him, but with the shot and the fall his chances were pretty low.”

“Once we get settled, we’ll try to search for him if he’s alive”, Erwin said quietly.

“For his and our sake let’s hope he’s not. With the fuckers that are after us…” Levi broke off, suddenly realizing that while he _intended_ to tell Erwin about Kenny he wasn’t able to do it yet, due to numerous distractions. He had to fix this, soon, before his silence put them all in danger.

Erwin easily noticed something’s amiss, giving Levi a worried stare, but the Captain just shook his head. While the matter was urgent, he didn’t want to talk in the front of brats, until he knew how to do it without making them panic. Erwin had to hear his concerns first. Distractedly, he raised his hands to fix his cravat and when he caught nothing, having lost it a long time ago, he popped the collar of his shirt instead. Erwin raised one of his impressive eyebrows, but said nothing, as they started to move through the forest to meet the rest of their comrades.

As it turned out, the makeshift camp wasn’t far away. The remaining soldiers had enough of a good sense to stay away from the edges of the forest, but apparently they were all too tired to get really deep into the woods. It was fine. They weren’t going to stay here too long anyway and Levi had to admit to himself that despite his brief rest he was still exhausted after the last events. The clearing they have chosen for the encampment was remote enough to keep them mostly safe from random passers, there was a clean stream close by and the grass was pleasantly warmed by the late-spring sun. Since they were deep inside the Walls, there was also no need to worry about the Titans, so as long as they weren’t followed by the Military Police, which by now seemed highly unlikely, Levi was perfectly fine with the idea of crashing there until the dark. Provided that there was any relatively clean blanket in the sacks they managed to bring there. He had enough lying in the dirt for now.

Speaking of the dirt… The soft whisper of the stream gave Levi the most brilliant idea.

“Oi! Dipshits! Have we brought any soap?” He called as they entered the glade.

Hearing his sharp tone the soldiers lazing around jumped to attention. Connie, Nifa, Jean, and surprisingly, Keiji immediately moved to the supplies, combing for the requested item. Levi was honestly a little worried. While he knew that the soap and towels were on the necessary supplies list while they prepared the whole action, and were bought before they rescued Erwin, he couldn’t be sure if the bag containing these precious items was among those they managed to snatch while running from the unexpected MPs’ attack. Their subordinates were apparently thinking along similar lines, because digging through the bags became more frantic as a tight knot of anxiety appeared in Levi’s chest. He would wash even if they didn’t have soap, but he _knew_ that it wouldn’t be good enough.

Finally, Connie gave a relieved sigh and triumphantly raised his hand with a bar of soap, just as Nifa produced clean towels from the bag she was searching.

Levi was happy enough to almost forget the wound, MPs and Kenny.

“Eyebrows, you stink”, he informed the Commander curtly, tossing him one of the offered towels. “And I need to talk to you in private.” And, while he would never admit it in the front of the brats, the medicines Hanji gave him, combined with the recent blood loss made him quite dizzy. He wouldn’t be happy if he passed out again and drowned himself in a knee-deep stream in the process.

“Is that how you treat your superior?” Erwin teased, apparently in a better mood now that they escaped the immediate danger and Levi’s arm was taken care of.

“I’m not sure if that’s the best idea”, Hanji interjected, but their face betrayed complete lack of faith in their ability to stop the Captain of getting his bath.

“Honestly, you could use some soap too, Stinking Glasses, but I’m in no mood to put up with your shit right now”, Levi informed them pointedly.

“At least try to not wet the dressing. It won’t be good for the wound and we have limited supplies.”

While he wasn’t happy with that, Levi could see sense in this particular order, so he nodded stiffly.

“Fine. Erwin, come.” And with that he turned in the direction of stream.

As soon as they were hidden from the sight of others, Erwin’s warm hand found Levi’s nape and tugged him into an embrace.

“Are you alright, Levi?” Erwin asked quietly, running his fingers through the short hair of his undercut.

“As good as it can be expected”, the Captain grumbled, sounding unhappy, but he didn’t make a move to pull away. “I’m half numb, half in pain, I expect it to get worse and my head is fucked up from Hanji’s shit. So, peachy. And I stink and my skin crawls so I’d love to get a good scrubbing. Can we go wash now?”

Erwin didn’t let him go, making a loud hum instead.

“That explains it.”

“That explains what?” This time Levi pushed Erwin away, fixing him with a murderous glare. He didn’t like when the Commander turned all enigmatic on him. He had the rest of the world to play this shit with.

“Why you were so bossy there. Usually you’re more reserved when we have witnesses.”

Levi lowered his gaze, this time directing his death stare at his shoes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. I’m shitty at thinking right now.”

“Levi, I’m not mad”, Erwin corrected gently, cupping his face with his only hand and pulling Levi’s chin up, so he could look into his eyes. “I was just worried. It was unlike you. You haven’t acted like that in public since before we got together.”

“Well, it’s Stinky Glasses’ fault”, Levi answered curtly, displeasure visible in his eyes. “Can we go to the water now, _please_? I really need to wash. And then talk.”

“Fine.” Erwin let go and turned back to the stream, leading the way.

When they got to the stream, Levi wasted no time undressing, even if it visibly strained his shoulder, then turned back to help Erwin, who swatted his hands away.

“I’ve got it. Go have your precious bath. And be careful with your bandage.”

“Yeah, yeah”, Levi’s voice was bored, but he almost sprinted to the water, immediately starting to scrub harshly his skin, starting with the legs. When Erwin didn’t join him until he reached his midsection, he straightened up, sending his Commander a look full of disdain.

“Are you getting in, or are you going to ogle me like an old perv you are?”

Erwin didn’t even try to hide his appreciative gaze, as he looked over his naked partner’s wiry body.

“I might have forgotten the soap. And the water seems cold”, he informed Levi with faux innocence, earning himself another scowl.

“You’re getting into this water and you’re getting clean and I don’t care if you get frostbite on your balls. You stink.”

“You would be upset if my balls really got frostbite, Levi”, Erwin answered, his voice saccharine sweet, but he obediently started walking towards the water.

“Get your head out of the gutter, Smith”, Levi snapped angrily, already lathering his good shoulder. “You’re going to help me rinse this, if I can’t wet this fucking bandage.”

“Yes, sir.” Erwin’s eyes glinted mischievously as he stepped into the water, but to Levi’s huge satisfaction the expression changed as soon as the icy water touched his shins. “Fuck! You weren’t kidding about the frostbite! There’s no way I’m getting into that!”

Levi barely suppressed a smug smirk.

“Tch. Such a crude language. Don’t you have any shame?” He asked, bending down to gather some water into his cupped hands. “And yes, you are getting into that.” He splashed the water straight into Erwin’s groin, making his tall lover wince miserably.

“You’re a cruel man, Levi”, Erwin complained, resigning to his fate.

“And you’re filthy”, Levi answered without missing a beat, kneeling down to rinse the soap bar carefully. When he was satisfied he thrusted said item into Erwin’s chest. “Do something about that.”

Erwin grabbed the soap and looked at Levi with a surprised expression, cold momentarily forgotten.

“Are you sharing your soap with me?”

Levi frowned, starting to rinse the lather from his skin.

“Have you seen yourself? This grime won’t get out without the soap. Wash your hair too.”

“You _never_ let me use your soap bar, Levi”, Erwin said solemnly, making the younger man’s scowl even deeper.

“We’re on the fucking run, bathing in a cold-ass water in a shitty forest on our way to the Underground, which is the filthiest hellhole I’ve ever seen. It’s not the best time to get prissy over the soap.”

A wide grin appeared slowly on Erwin’s face.

“Are you admitting then that you’re usually prissy, Levi?”

If the looks could kill, Erwin Smith would be a dead man this very second. The glare Levi fixed him was the one that made recruits piss themselves in fear and then scrub the mess until their hands bleed. Erwin, however, seemed to be completely immune.

“I should have killed you when I had a chance”, Levi murmured, cleaning his forearm, then stood up. “Get your ass here and wash my back. Just clean this damned soap before you move it from your asshole to my back.”

“Yes, darling”, Erwin agreed, crouching to rinse the soap.

“Call me that once again and I’ll shove my foot so deep up your ass you’re going to taste it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I've found a moment to publish the second chapter. Unfortunately, since my life has been pretty hectic lately, I've only managed to get rid of some typos and spelling errors, otherwise this chapter is completely unedited. And, due to real life problems, I can't predict when the last chapter will be finished - I'm sorry. As soon as things get a little bit more stable, I'm going to make it a top priority (especially, that the third chapter has art too and I'm dying to share it with you, and I can't do it without spoiling it...)  
> For now have some angst, some fluff, and the Underground with the introduction of some of my OCs. 
> 
> I hope I don't disappoint ;)

They washed quickly after that - the water _was_ freezing after all - and soon they were sitting down on their towels, basking in the warm sunlight. They only put their trousers on, at Levi’s firm insistence (the idea of sitting butt-naked on the ground, even on the towels was apparently absolutely repulsive), and Erwin’s arm was wrapped around Levi’s shoulders, as the Captain stretched out his neck and closed his eyes, absorbing the sun like a giant cat.

“I hope we’ll manage to get on our feet soon”, he murmured with a rare, resigned expression. “I’m going to fucking miss it.”

“We won’t stay down there forever, Levi, I promise you”, Erwin hugged him closer, feeling a little bit heartbroken at this confession. Levi deserved all the sunlight in the world and it was Erwin’s fault that he had to descent into the darkness again.

“We’ll see”, Levi said, and it was clear from his tone that he didn’t have much faith in a happy ending. “I’m worried about you and these dipshits. I’ll pull through, I was born to it. But neither you, nor them…” He inclines his head in the direction of the camp. “You simply don’t know how it is to live in darkness all the time. I’ve seen people who had to move to the Undergound after their lives aboveground went to shit. Many of them went batshit crazy.”

“Levi.” Erwin’s voice was firm as he willed his lover to look at him. Levi cracked open one of his eyes, looking at the Commander lazily.

“It’s temporary. It’s not a permanent solution. We have still a job to do, we’re still needed outside the Walls. And we’re going to get back there.” _I’m not going to let you waste away without the sun._

“Sure.” Levi closed his eyes again and stretched his arms above his head. There was something desperate in this seemingly lazy move, as if Levi wanted to absorb as much of the sunrays as it’s humanly possible before they had to leave. Erwin suddenly realized that it was just that, that Levi was in a way saying goodbye to the sky, grass, trees and everything he dreamed about as a kid.

“Levi, I promise”, he repeated insistently. “Even if our plans fail, even if everything goes wrong, even if we’ll have to surrender and leave our mission. I’m going to get you out of there even if it kills me.”

That was apparently a wrong thing to say as the semi-relaxed expression on Levi’s face turned into a deep scowl.

“Try talking with your mouth instead of an asshole”, he grumbled. “You seem to be speaking but all that comes out is shit.”

“Levi…”

“Don't ‘Levi’ me”, his Captain snarled. “I’ve already lost Izzy and Farlan to this stupid dream. Don’t you dare be the next.” He twisted around to look properly at Erwin, his face a mask of anger and pain. “I’ve got more than I could wish for. I’ve spend _years_ aboveground. But this shit wouldn’t be worth anything without your stupid ass. If you want to pull some suicidal shit again, start with stabbing me in the back. Because I will be the next anyway.”

Erwin watched, paralyzed with a shock, as Levi sat up, looking grimly in the distance. Long minutes passed before he spoke again.

“We won’t speak about this shit. Ever again.”

Erwin definitely intended to talk about this in future, both stunned by the fierce passion of his lover and repulsed by the idea of Levi dying because of him, but now wasn’t a right time to argue. Instead he sat up and hugged Levi once again, kissing softly the top of his head. When the silence stretched for a long while, he finally spoke.

“I guess that wasn’t the thing  you wanted to talk about.”

Levi, much calmer now, shook his head slightly.

“No.” He sighed and looked up at Erwin, his usual, bored expression back in place. “We’re in serious shit, Erwin. Worse than I have thought.”

“How is that?”

“Does the name Kenny the Ripper tell you anything?” Levi asked, watching his reactions carefully. Erwin furrowed his brow. He did remember the name vaguely, back from when he was a schoolboy, but didn’t know how it was relevant.

“He was some kind of a criminal back in the day. Used to give a lots of grief to the Military Police if I remember right. What about him?”

Levi cracked the smallest of smiles, but it lacked the usual brilliance of the mini-expressions he usually had for Erwin.  

“‘Lots of grief’ is putting it lightly”, he observed. “He assassinated about a hundred MPs. Don’t know exactly, how many. While he used to boast about that, he never gave me the numbers.”

Erwin raised his brows.

“He never gave you the numbers?” He repeated. “It sounds like you knew him.”

For a moment Levi seemed bashful, which was a ridiculous idea in itself.

“Yeah, about that. Remember, when you asked me about my childhood? I told you my ma died and that I had a guardian for a few years, who left me as soon as I was able to fend for myself.”

Erwin nodded. He remembered that conversation, which he initiated long before he knew how reluctant Levi was when it came to speaking about his past. It was awkward, kind of painful and Levi practically evaded answering any questions. Erwin felt pretty upset with that that day, and it was years later when he understood that Levi must have started to trust him even then, if he shared even as much as he did.

“What I didn’t tell you then it was that it was Kenny who took me in. I still have no idea what interest he had in me, but he taught me everything I know. He was an asshole, an alcoholic and I was sure that he drunk himself to death after he left and ended in some ditch. He probably wasn’t the best guardian a kid could have, but he was all that I got.”

There was a heavy silence for a few minutes. It was unusual for Levi to open so much, and Erwin wanted to ask hundreds of question, but he could feel that his lover wasn’t finished.

“Well. As it turned out, he still breathes. Now, instead of killing MPs he fights with them. From what I gathered he is an officer of something called ‘anti-personnel squad’ or some shit like that. Couldn’t get much, because I was trying to get away, but MPs definitely listen to him.”

Erwin hummed quietly, processing what Levi has told him. His hand automatically moved into the hair of Levi’s undercut, scratching gently.

“I see how it might be difficult for you. I understand if you have trouble going against a man, who practically was your foster father…”

The Captain scoffed loudly, moving away from the caress.

“You’re not listening to me, fuckwit. I’m not talking about some emotional bullshit or anything like that. He is an enemy now and I don’t care if he held my dick when I learned to piss.”

Seeing Erwin’s amused expression he trailed off, looking a little bit flustered.

“He didn’t, you fucker. I’m just making a point here.”

“Oh, I know.” Erwin smiled widely. “And you’re doing it in your own, absolutely unique and oddly charming way. But I’m listening.”

“Shithead”, Levi murmured before starting again. “Anyway, what I’m trying to tell you that the fucker is dangerous. Imagine that it’s me you have to go against, but with twenty more years of experience, ten times as ruthless and pretty crazy. I swear, his sense of humor is even worse than it used to be.”

“His sense of humor? That’s what got you so wound up?” Erwin inquired, as he couldn’t stop himself from teasing his partner a little more. Seeing his expression, however, he sighed, raising his arm in a placating gesture.

“Alright, I understand. We need to take him under a consideration when we’ll make any further plans. If the man is dangerous enough to make _you_ stressed, I’m definitely going to take him seriously. And the fact, that MPs recruited him and gave him a leadership position, despite his history, is telling in itself.”

Levi exhaled softly in relief, apparently satisfied now that Erwin promised to treat this threat with sobriety.

“Thank you. The worst thing is that with Kenny in the picture all my plans are as useful as a Titan’s puke. There wasn’t any time to think about anything else, but..”

“Why is that, Levi?” Erwin asked gently.

“Kenny knows me, Erwin. He knows how I think, how I operate. It won’t take him much time to guess what I would do. If we do this like I wanted to, he’s going to have us cornered in no time. The problem is, that I have no idea what to do except to flee outside the Walls. And we can’t really do that.”

Erwin sighed, hand itching to touch Levi again, but respecting his unexpressed wish for some private space.

“While I understand where your concerns came from, I think, you’re not giving yourself enough credit. Instead, you’re letting your fears cloud your judgment.”

Levi’s head moved so swiftly that Erwin felt a pang of irrational fear that he’s going to snap his neck. The glower his lover send his way was withering.  
“I’m not afraid”, he snarled.

Fortunately, Erwin had _years_ of experience with dealing with Levi’s moods, so he just smiled.

“You are and there’s no shame in it. I would probably be scared too, if I were in your shoes. But what you are forgetting is that Kenny knew the boy he abandoned, not the man you’ve became. Even if he shaped the way you thought back then, you’re now much more than what he taught you. You’ve been in places he never was and seen things he can’t really imagine. I know that most of that was painful, but you aren’t that boy anymore. You aren’t even the same person who joined the Corps nine years ago. You are a different man, Levi. He can’t read your thoughts.”

“Shithead”, Levi murmured softly, but this time Erwin knew it wasn’t meant as an insult. Erwin reached for him and pulled him back into his chest.

“It it will make you feel better, we can analyze these plans and see what we can change to surprise him.”

Levi sighed, relaxing a bit and letting Erwin calm him down.

“I don’t know. If we follow through with the idea of going down into this shithole - and I don’t know where else we could go - then I need to contact some people I used to know. It’s going to be risky as fuck, I can’t tell now who I can trust. I don’t know how many of them Kenny knows about. I don’t know a shit.”

“Alright. So we camp near this entrance and you go to speak with your old friends…” Levi scoffed at the word. “Acquaintances”, Erwin corrected. “Then what?”

“There are always abandoned buildings in the Underground. Of course, usually some gang claims them as their territory and tries to get payment for a ‘protection’, but we don’t really need to worry about it, if we don’t settle on the turf of one of the main players. It’s not like they legally own them. I need to learn where we can stay and how does current situation look like. I haven’t been there for almost ten years. It’s a very long time there.”

“Alright. We camp, you talk, we claim some new headquarters. What’s next?”

Levi winced slightly. While Erwin couldn’t see his expression, he felt a soft twitch of his nose against his chest.

“I can’t really tell. I mean, I’m not as good as you in this whole planning ahead shit and… Well, truth is that until I get some intel, there’s no telling what we _can_ do. In general, we’re going to have to secure some supply sources, for gas and shit. I have an idea where to start, but it might be tricky. And we’re going to need some income, and there comes some fucked up stuff that you won’t like. That I don’t like.”

“What’s that?”

“When I run with Izzy, Farlan and the rest of the crew, we have mostly stolen. I’ve tried to pick up the guys that worked for the rich fucks aboveground and got pretty good salaries for screwing with people. You know, shitheads who bring down the food and meds and other necessities and sell them for money that would be considered robbery even in Mitras. Sometimes we did some drug runs for bigger groups, sometimes we got...dirtier jobs. I’ve tried to do these myself, there was no reason to risk the rest. This time it might not be enough. We don’t want to get three sets of citizenship letters. We want to get our influence back. We need to play with the bigwigs.”

“So, what you’re trying to tell me, is that we need to become a gang. An influential one, right?”

Levi nodded solemnly, his head still tucked under Erwin’s chin.

“Yeah. And that involves some serious shady shit, crooked businesses, turf wars and stuff. It’s going to be bloody and fucked up, and not even a little bit glamorous. The brats are going to flip out. I almost do when I think about that. But you can’t even survive there on so called ‘honest work’. The only way to get back in the game is to become assholes who outwit all the other assholes.”

Erwin chuckled, even if he felt cold inside. He did some questionable things in life, but this felt much more real for some reason.

“It’s not so much different than the politics, then. You just don’t get to wear white gloves.” He smiled into Levi’s hair, knowing that his partner will feel it and that he needed some reassurance. “We just need to keep our goals in sight. We swore an oath, we have a mission to carry out and we have to use any means necessary to get back to the Walls. The Titans won’t eradicate themselves.”

“Yeah”, Levi agreed flatly. He raised his head to look Erwin in the eye, and for a second the Commander got a feeling that Levi wanted to say something important and deeply personal. But after a moment he simply shook his head and buried his face in Erwin’s warm shoulder, inhaling the scent of a sun-kissed skin. Apparently his confession time was over.

Erwin wasn’t surprised. Despite the deep bond they shared, Levi was still very private person, reluctant to even acknowledge the fact that he _had_ feelings. Yet, during the last two days he was pretty clear about them, obviously struggling to voice all the concerns that had troubled him lately and succeeding, despite all his issues. Erwin could appreciate the effort.

“I’m going to keep in mind what you said, Levi”, he promised, rubbing soothing circles in Levi’s good shoulder. “And we’re going to pull through. We’re a good team.”

The Captain didn’t answer, curling into a ball in Erwin’s embrace, as Erwin traced random shapes on his lover’s pale skin, thinking that his partner could be sometimes insanely cute - not that he would ever say it out loud. He still valued his manhood.

They must have nodded off, because the next thing Erwin knew was Hanji’s squealing, as they stood over them with hands clapped over their mouth.

“So adorable!” It wasn’t a big surprise that they didn’t value the integrity of their limbs as much as Erwin did. “It always makes me all gushy when Shorty gets cuddly!”

“Oi, Idiot Glasses, stop your shrieking”, Levi murmured, freeing himself from under Erwin’s arm and rubbing his eyes, still blurry with sleep. “My head is going to explode from your shitty drugs and these inhuman noises you make.”

Suddenly his eyes narrowed into deadly slits, as his brain caught up with their words.

“What the fuck did you just call me?”

“Adorable, Shorty, cuddly”, Hanji listed, marking each word on their fingers and grinning madly. “Having any problems with that?”

“I’m going…” Levi growled, but Hanji cut him short.

“Oh, save this angry face for the recruits. We all know here that you’re all bark and no bite. Speaking of bite, dinner is ready, and you two have been gone for some time. You might want to get back before the kids send the rescue party.”

Erwin, who watched the exchange with an amusement, cut in before Levi managed to answer with a new string of expletives.

“That might be a good idea. Thank you, Hanji.”

“No problem. Wouldn’t want my two favorite gays to be left hungry. You’re going to need energy to get freaky. Aaand to heal.” They eyed pointedly Levi’s wound, then shrugged. “Besides, I had a hunch that I wouldn’t regret walking on you two.”

“Oh, you will regret that”, Levi seethed, lunging himself at them with an obvious intention to tackle.

“Hanji, Levi that’s enough.” Erwin let out an exasperated huff, grabbing Levi’s arm in the last second. “Sometimes I doubt that I deal with two responsible adults. Hanji, stop baiting him. Levi, you don’t really want to hurt them. They are your friend and comrade, and we need them in a good shape.”

Hanji pouted and Levi grumbled, but thankfully, they both managed to calm down. The slightest blush on the Captain’s seemingly bored face suggested even that he was a little bit embarrassed.

“Alright”, Erwin reached for his shirt, flipping it awkwardly to get rid of any bugs or leaves that might have find themselves on the fabric. “Now I suggest we go eat. Levi, how do you think, when we can move?”

Levi, fully composed again, tilted his head up to look at the sun. He was still shirtless and the position emphasized the graceful line of his arms and neck, so Erwin let his eyes wander a little while he waited for the answer. Hanji picked up Levi’s shirt, carefully checking it for anything he would deem unacceptable.

“I’d say two-three hours. We can go once it gets dark, but since we aren’t in the town anymore we don’t need for people to be asleep. There’s a low chance anyone will spot us.”

As he spoke, Hanji helped him into his clothing, making sure to be careful around his wound. Levi didn’t look pleased, but allowed them to help until they started to button it up. At this point he swatted their hands gently away, finishing it himself.

Erwin smirked. It never stopped to amuse him how these two interacted: jumping on each other’s throat one second and then, suddenly, acting so protective of each other that would make him jealous if he didn’t know exactly where Levi’s heart was.

 

The dinner consisted of the field military rations they have packed for an occasion when making fire, and by extension, cooking, would be dangerous. As it was such an occasion, Levi couldn’t really complain. Still, the food sat heavily on his stomach and he really wanted to place the blame at its quality. Deep inside, he knew, however, that it was bullshit. It was hardly the first time he ate that stuff, sometimes living on it for a weeks at time when missions and expeditions forced them to leave the base for prolonged periods of time. It wasn’t particularly tasty, but Levi was far from being fussy when it came to food. You didn’t starve your whole childhood to get picky as an adult.

As much as it pained him to admit that, his digestive problems were closely connected to his emotional state. And he should… Needed to sort it out before they descended into the Underground. This stuff could get one killed.

Problem was, he wasn’t any good at this emotional shit. Yes, he managed to tell Erwin some of that, but even if he was informed many times that talking makes such things easier, the conversation reminded him of this one time when he let Hanji prod as his rotten tooth. It was repulsive, it was painful and in the end he needed to deal with it in his own way, removing the blasted molar himself. Which was repulsive and painful too, but at least got the job done.

Now, after telling Erwin about Kenny (which was unavoidable), confessing his worries (which was unnecessary and made him feel rather awkward) and cuddling (which was pleasant, but terribly embarrassing, especially when he imagined someone else than Hanji finding them in tight embrace) he was feeling even worse than before. He needed to snap out of it, but in fact, he wasn’t the best equipped for dealing with this shit.

“Captain? Is everything alright?” Somehow, of all the people, it was Eren who caught his distress.

“I think that my portion went bad”, Levi murmured over the ration bar. Eren jumped on his feet promising to bring him a replacement, but Levi shook his head.

“Leave it brat, I’m not hungry anyway.”

He made a move to toss the bar into the shrubs to give his excuse some validity, but he couldn’t bring himself to waste food this way, so he wrapped it back and tucked discreetly into his pocket. Brats didn’t notice, but not much escaped Erwin’s sharp eyes. Levi knew they would speak about it later, no matter if he wanted or not.

“Alright. We have an hour until we need to depart”, he announced when everyone was finished. Oh, well, everyone but Sasha. He fixed her a hard glare and the girl fumbled with her food, hiding it awkwardly behind her back. Was that the fourth bar or the fifth? He needed to make the brats sensitive to the fact that currently they had almost no money and no income. There was no telling how long the supplies needed to last. But now was not the time. He’d tell Erwin before he’d depart to search for help

“Take a shit if you need to, pack whatever you unpacked, clean the area. We can’t leave any tracks for the MPs to find so shit responsible.”  
There were a few flat ‘yessirs’ and maybe one or two raised brow (exclusively from Hanji’s squad) as the soldiers moved quietly to carry out their orders. An odd mix of fondness and guilt hit him. These kids trusted him, accepted his crudeness and weirdness without batting an eye, and here he was - dragging them into some shit they probably couldn’t really imagine. It might have not been exactly his fault that they ended here; even if he didn’t insist that they need to save Erwin they would still be on the run and forced to hide if not in the Underground then in some other unsavory place. But if he was someone else, someone better than a street rat  dressed up in an uniform, maybe he could offer them a solution that wouldn’t force them to compromise all their morals and ideals. Somehow that seemed to be a worse betrayal than putting them in a danger.

 _Erwin has listened and Erwin doesn’t have a better answer_ , he reminded himself. And if Erwin didn’t have an answer, that could only mean that there wasn’t one.

Two sets of blue eyes observed him in the shadows of the early evening. Erwin, he could stand. But…

“Artlet! Don’t you have some shit to do?”  
“No, sir! I’m packed and I have defecated responsibly a little bit earlier.”

The kid was bright and somewhere along the road started to get cocky in a way that reminded him eerily of Erwin. Lots of big words, polite smiles and innocent stares barely hiding the fact that he was probably the biggest little shit in the Corps. Yeah. A lot like Erwin.

“Then move your ass and help others. I want to be ready as soon as possible. And if you haven’t done it yet, finish the gas check. We’re going to need it for a while longer.”

Armin saluted automatically and moved along, immediately joining his friends in the preparations.

“They will understand”, Erwin said, softly enough that only Levi could hear him. “It might take time and lots of explaining, but they will.”

Levi scoffed.

“What are you now, a fucking mind-reader?” He asked, a little bit more aggressively than he’d like, then run his hand through his hair. It was more expressive than he would normally allow himself in the front of the brats, but at least stopped him from fidgeting. Mind-reader, or not, Erwin perfectly pinpointed the source of his growing uneasiness.

“I’m shit at talking. I can’t explain that to them. I don’t even know if it’s the right decision. Good intentions can’t really…”

He was blabbering again. What’s worse, he was blabbering where the brats could hear him.

“Alright, I’m not any good with all this moral shit”, he admitted a little bit annoyed with himself. “And I don’t want the brats to resent me”, that he added in much lower voice, the admission almost physically painful. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

“You have better instincts that you give yourself credit for, Levi”, Erwin said with a gentle smile. “Don’t overanalyze, that’s unlike you and will only make you doubt yourself. You need to trust your intuition, as you always did. Now the survival is our priority, and I don’t know anyone better than you at that.” The smile turned slightly constrained. “I’m pretty much useless in this situation, but at least I can try to explain to them what’s going on and why it’s necessary. I think I’ll be able to convince them that you have the Humanity’s best interests at heart even if the means to reach our goals are less than stellar.”

Levi didn’t really think about the Humanity’s interests now, and the reminder of the people whom they were supposed to serve despite the treatment they’ve gotten from them, left a bitter taste on his tongue. Despite that, he nodded, keeping his face perfectly blank with practiced ease. His own priorities might be different, but he was willing to accommodate Erwin… and even the brats.

“Fine”, he agreed quietly, standing up and brushing needles and leaves from his pants. This kind of dirt didn’t bother him as much as the shit he could find in the city, but still, he preferred to stay relatively clean. “I’ll check on them and we’ll have to move.”

 

His brats were quite efficient. Hanji’s rascals a little less, but it was to be expected. Crazy Glasses was as good in keeping discipline as hygiene, so they couldn’t be really blamed for becoming lazy. Blameless or not, however, he wasn’t going to let any tardiness pass.

Twenty minutes later he was deeply questioning his life choices, as Hanji started to talk his ear off, complaining about him terrorizing everyone around.

“Alright, enough. We have to leave.” He cut them off finally. “And there’s nothing ‘neurotic’ in expecting some standards.”

Erwin looked at them with a bemused expression, making Levi want to strangle everyone around, including the obnoxious blonde hunk of his partner. For all that, there was a silver lining: after a day of moping around and stressing himself with all the shitty ethics and emotions, now he was simply annoyed. That was a healthy, normal feeling he was used to and knew how to deal with.

Maybe Hanji’s whining wasn’t as random as he thought…

He shook his head, his attention snapping back to the problem at hand.

“It’s going to take us two to three hours to get to the entrance. We’re mostly going through uninhabited area, but we’re going to have to pass by one village, so I don’t want to hear any noise. If any of you, brats, will draw attention to us I’m going to gut them personally.”

Hanji snickered, making a muffled barking sound in her hand. Levi gloomily decided that one day he was definitely going to strangle them, friend or not.

Fortunately the way to the cave-in he had in mind went uneventful. Now that they shook off the MPs and the kids were silent, Levi was almost able to enjoy the walk. Almost, because his back still hurt, almost because as the area grew more and more familiar, unwanted memories came in a surge. This was the way he used, when he sneaked out on a shady job. This was the way he used, when he went to Mitras to get a birthday present for Isabel this one time when he actually could afford getting her something nice. This was the way he used, when Farlan got sick and Levi in act of desperation went aboveground to rob an apothecary.

And there it was. From the outside it didn’t look like much. A little recess in the ground beneath two tall oaks. The sight squeezed his insides painfully.

He gestured to the rest to follow him as he slowly descended into the little depression. Hidden behind thick bushes there was a wide split in the ground, grass and rubble visible underneath.

Without a word he hooked his gear safely in the ground, extending a hand to Erwin. That was a small jump, he could make it without problems, even with this giant on his back.

Erwin was reluctant when he wrapped his arm around Levi’s waist. Levi felt almost offended when he embraced him tightly, needing only one wire for this descent.

Once they landed, Levi fully intended to give instructions to set a camp and leave immediately to search for assistance, but when he disentangled himself from Erwin he forgot about everything for a moment.

That was their special place. Not many people knew about this cave-in that allowed some sunlight and vegetation, otherwise the area would be surely ruined. As it was it looked almost like it used to when Izzie set her bird free. The rubble was a little bit more weathered, moss covering the big stones that once were polished smooth from being used as seats. The young oak which somehow managed to take roots between the stones no longer looked like a stick with a few leaves, now growing taller than Erwin with a trunk as thick as Levi’s arm. Isabel would probably still call it ‘Twiggy’, though. The grass looked thinner and patchier than Levi remembered, but he wasn’t sure if something stunted its growth or if he simply grew used to much more lush grass on the surface. Still, even with all these differences, he felt like he would hear Farlan’s laugh behind the rocks any second. This little sanctuary was full of ghosts.

In a dreamlike haze he walked in the direction of the tree, past it and to the wall of the cave. Moving around a few rocks he uncovered a small niche in the wall and picked up the item hidden inside. Farlan’s guitar felt both familiar and alien in his hand. It was broken, the wood weathered and warped by age. Two strings were dangling uselessly, broken.

“Was it yours?” Erwin asked quietly, suddenly appearing behind Levi’s shoulder and startling him slightly.

Levi shook his head.

“Farlan’s. He tried to teach me for a while, but I never had any knack for music. He was good, though. Wanted to become an entertainer once we moved aboveground. Play for the nobles and other rich shits. He could even make it, if... ” He fell silent, not trusting his voice anymore. He believed he was over their death, that he moved on, but something in this place, the intimacy he shared here with his friends, pulled him back nine years, the grief as sharp as it was that fateful day.

“Sirs?” Eren’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Squad leader Hanji sent me to ask if that’s the place we’re supposed to stay at.” The boy looked at Levi’s face, then the wreck of guitar. “What’s that, Captain?”

It took Levi several deep breaths before he regained his composure.

“Nothing important, Jeager. Go tell Shitty Glasses to set up the camp, but don’t expect to stay here very long”, he answered finally, his voice a little bit more clipped than usual. There was a clear disbelief at the teen’s face, but he nodded obediently, turning around.

“Yes, sir.”  

Erwin’s hand felt heavy on his shoulder.

“Do you need a moment, Levi?” He asked. Levi wanted to scream again, like he screamed over the decaying body of the abnormal that murdered his family. He needed time alone, he needed to deal with these emotions again. Despite that, he shook his head.

“No, it’s only a piece of trash”, he answered sharply. There was much more bite in his voice than he intended.

Erwin apparently had seen right through it.

“Take your time”, he said, kissing gently the crown of Levi’s head and departing in silence.

He didn’t know that confronting his old life was going to be so exhausting. In spite of his dismissing words, he caressed the worn out instrument gently, before placing it back in the niche. Piling up rocks against it to hide the old guitar again felt like another funeral.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he finally stood up from where was he kneeling, brow resting against the freshly built barrier. It must have been pretty long, given that all of his comrades already lounged around the fire, cooking, resting and joking. It seemed oddly inappropriate and Levi wanted to scold them for making fire and ruining the pristine state of his sanctuary, but caught himself in time. It was a safe spot, nobody ate anything more filling than ration bars since yesterday and it was pretty chill here compared to the surface.

His bad mood slightly subsided when Jaeger jumped to his feet and almost raced to the fire with Levi’s cup.

“I made tea, Captain”, he offered, already pouring the dark beverage. Levi accepted the cup without a word, seating himself between Erwin and Hanji. For some reason, Eren looked crestfallen and Jean snickered. Levi raised a brow, took a sip of the tea and hummed quietly. It was good.

Erwin smirked, hearing the low, content sound. Levi caught it with the corner of his eye and shrugged.

“What? Brat finally learned how to make tea.”

“I’m just glad you feel better.” Erwin smiled, discreetly placing his hand on the small of Levi’s back and rubbing softly.

Levi clicked his tongue in annoyance. It was pleasant, but they were around people. Erwin should know better than that. Last thing they needed was someone filling a report for  fraternization…

He felt like his brain and heart suddenly stopped, when realization crept upon him.

They weren’t the military anymore. There was no brass they could be reported to. He wasn’t sure if the thought made him more elated or scared.

One problem at time.

“I’ll finish that and I’m leaving. The sooner I go the sooner I return”, he grumbled, lifting his cup.

Erwin furrowed his monstrous eyebrows, the effect resembling angry caterpillars. Levi sipped his tea daintily, not intimidated in the slightest. This, at least, was a familiar game, one that he fell into with a secret relief. Erwin would express his displeasure in something, Levi would pretend he doesn’t care. Erwin would explain in great detail and with huge annoyance what is his problem, giving Levi some more time to rest, because there was no fucking way that he was going to listen to another of his speeches. No matter how much Levi cared for Erwin, the man definitely loved the sound of his own voice a little bit too much. And three cups of tea later he would finally agree, pretending that he was convinced - while in fact, he would agree to almost everything just because he cared. He just liked to be difficult.

Especially now, when the idea of stepping back into the Underground was more real and daunting than ever before.

“You’re not going down there alone”, Erwin stated. Levi, who already started to focus on his tea, trying to mute down whatever his dumb giant was saying (it was in some ways almost meditative), suddenly snapped to attention. “I know we talked before and I probably should have said something sooner, but there’s no way I’ll let you go without…”

“No. Fucking. Way.” Levi gritted. Erwin opened his eyes wider, apparently surprised by the change in the familiar routine. He was probably expecting Levi to ‘listen’ to him with a thoughtful expression, as usual. Not snap and disagree on the spot.

“Levi. You are injured, You can’t expect me to agree to let you go alone. It’s dangerous.”

The Capitan felt his jaw tense involuntarily.

“Exactly. It’s dangerous. I’m the only one here who knows how to behave down there. I’m not going to have some shitty brats ruining my contacts and our chances, because of a small hole in my fucking back.”

“Levi, be rational”, Erwin took a deep breath, obviously trying to keep his own nerves in check. “You can take someone from your squad, they’re used to you and your standards. And besides, it’s not like you can keep them in the dark. They’re going to need to learn how to deal with people here anyway.”

“I have been gone for fucking ten years, Erwin. They’re going to flip their shit out just because of me. I can’t make it worse by bringing some complete strangers to their doorstep when I reappear after they already burned their candles for me!”

“If that’s the case, we’ll have to wait until you’re better”, Erwin shrugged with a smug expression. Levi let out an exasperated huff, eyeing their subordinates uncomfortably. They were all sitting by one fire, listening to the dispute with puzzled expressions. There was no way to get this discussion away from them and while he could be stubborn, onerous or rude, he never argued with Erwin in public. Never.

“Oi! Shitty Glasses!” With an angry whisper he turned for help to his only possible ally. “Tell this fucking moron to kindly fuck off, please.”

Hanji chuckled, picking at some dried fruits they held in their hands. Levi wrinkled his nose at the sight of the dirt under their fingernails.

“While usually I’d be delighted to do anything for you when you ask so nicely, Shortie, on this one I’m with Erwin. We can’t afford to lose you in some back alley scuffle just because you’re half a man you are usually.” They made an exaggerated hum, pretending to be deep in thought. “I guess that would make you a quarter of a man now.”

One of the brats snickered, but before Levi could identify the offender, they already straightened their face.

“Short jokes. Really mature, Idiot Glasses”, he scoffed, feeling defeated. He couldn’t argue with Erwin under these circumstances, he couldn’t convince Hanji to do it in his stead and he couldn’t even tell, which brat had enough audacity to make fun of him.

He saw a lot of latrine cleaning in the near future. Providing that he would manage to find any latrines to clean with brats disrupting his meetings.

“I’m glad you can see reason, Levi”, Erwin said, annoyingly self-confident. Fucker knew perfectly well that the only reason why Levi didn’t fight him tooth and nail about it was the presence of the brats. And now he was gloating.

“So please, pick two people from your squad before you go.” When he was grinning like that Levi wasn’t sure if he wanted to punch or to kiss him. Probably both.

“Two? Why don’t I take a whole nursery for a trip”, he murmured, warm tea losing its allure at this perspective. He must have been louder than intended because Shitty Glasses snickered in their food and there was a choir of offended voices calling his title. Erwin diplomatically ignored this remark.

But brats or not, now he had to soften the blow. After all, these kids were soldiers and his subordinates and he needed to have relatively good rapport with them. Leaving them to steam in hormones and teenage resentment won’t do anyone any good.

“Look, kids”, he started, setting his cup on the rock. “You are good soldiers, you are well trained and you’re Corpsmen who went outside the Walls and returned. That is big shit, and not many can claim it. You’re actually not a half bad team. But this shit down there?” He gestured in the direction of the city, about dozen meters below them. “It’s different than anything you ever saw. There are no Titans there. There are slimy scumbags who care only about their own asses and people so desperate that they are going to mug you if they only catch a whiff of copper and a slightest sign of weakness. Not because they are bad folks, but because that’s what it takes to survive. You’re not equipped to deal with this crap yet. Not only because it’s fucking dangerous, but also because it takes skill and attitude not to hurt some poor fucker who simply has had enough of eating his own shit.”

As he spoke he looked at the faces, trying to decide who’s going to be the least problematic company. The duo he’d pick based on their characters was out of the question: Armin was smart and would keep his mouth shut, but he wasn’t really a thug material and with his childlike face and effeminate build he would surely attract someone looking for trouble. Mikasa would be great. She was skilled and had the attitude, but she would draw unwanted attention with her looks. There was no way to keep her from being harassed on the streets until she was known better or in a bigger group. There was also the matter of the familial resemblance between them (before he met her he was never completely sure if Ackerman was his real name, or if Kenny just slapped him with any name to save them both from the embarrassment of introducing him as ‘runt’ or ‘just Levi’). That wasn’t something he wanted to flaunt yet. Sasha was also too pretty, and there was this problem that girls weren’t held in the greatest esteem down there, and today’s business was all about posturing. Connie was definitely too goofy and there was low chance he’d be able to contain himself. That left him with…

“Jaeger, Kirstein, you’re with me. Keep your traps shut, do what I say… and when something surprises any of you, and something definitely will, try not to show. We don’t want to make it too obvious, that you aren’t local. We need to show that we aren’t someone to be fucked with. And not a word about the military. Folks here hate it guts and even if the Corps aren’t as loathed as MPs or the Garrison, these people still have no use for the uniforms. We’re a little bit more respected, but they still would see us as enemies, at least until it sinks that we were outlawed.”

He gave them a critical once-over. They have lost their jackets and capes long time ago, and most of the clothes were traded for civilian garb, but some of them were still wearing parts of their uniforms, Eren included.

“Jaeger, try to find some other pants if it’s possible. It’s bad enough that we all wear military-issued boots.” That was a problem without an easy solution. Finding a good footwear was not a walk in the park and they didn’t really have enough money to obtain non-conspicuous shoes of a good quality for all of them. Boots had to stay. “And, all of you, pull the legs of your trousers over the shanks.” That still wasn’t a perfect fix, but at least this way their clothes wont scream ‘soldiers’ at the first glance.

As Eren went back to the dig through the bags, Levi poured himself another cup of tea, trying to adjust his plans to this new hindrance. There were people he simply couldn’t visit with the boys: they would consider bringing strangers to their places an hostile act and it won’t matter to them that they were just brats. Unfortunately these people were the most powerful of his old allies and most likely to keep their influence and their bases. People he once considered close to friends, like the members of his old crew… He felt guilty for a moment. There was no telling what happened to them after he disappeared with Farlan and Izzy.

But then, they were ones least likely to shoot them on sight just because he brought some new faces.

Having decided the course of action, he finished his tea and set the cup down to be cleaned. Eren came back, his uniform trousers balled in his hand, the brown slacks he put on a little bit on the shorter side, showing his boots up to ankles. Still, it was better that the characteristic skin-tight beige pants that would be recognized by everyone and their mothers.

‘Alright, we’re going’, he said, raising up and leading the way to the edge of the shelf they were camping on, the actual city settled several meters below, behind a sharp turn of the cave. It was hard to reach this place without 3dm or climbing gear and it was the sole reason why they managed to keep it private from sun-starved denizens of the Underground.

He jumped down, firing his hooks just in time to keep himself from crashing, then slowly let go of the wire, landing softly on the ground below. He didn’t wait for the brats to follow him, before he started to methodically take off his gear and harness.

“No gear, sir?” Jean asked, looking a little bit spooked. Well, the kids were so used to relying on it that they must have felt naked walking into a dangerous area without it. If Levi was to be honest, after all these years he shared the feeling.

“We don’t have enough gas for the gear to be actually useful. And we don’t need any attention, so all this shit stays hidden here.” He folded expertly the last straps of his harness and looked around, seeking for a good place for three sets of bulky equipment that needed to stay out of sight.

The big boulder close to the wall of the cave wasn’t offering perfect protection, but it was the best he could find on a short note, so he went there and stashed his gear, gesturing to boys to do the same. Eren was lagging behind a little, his attention focused on the sight of the city.

“Oi, Jaeger! Move your ass!” Levi snapped, glaring daggers at the teenager. Eren hurried to comply, the straps of his harness tangled up mess in his hands as he threw them on the blade cases.

“I’m sorry, sir”, he said, looking a little bit shy. “I just never thought it was… so enormous.”

Levi barely spared a look at his old home.

“Well, it was initially build for the rich shitheads, before they realized how much this place sucked. Of course it’s huge.”

They walked through the soft slopes of the cave, down into the city made of buildings pilling up on each other like children’s building blocks. It felt odd to walk along these streets again, but Levi forced himself to pay attention to his surroundings, somewhere along the way slipping back into his old mindset. While useful, it was almost terrifying how close to the surface it was.

“We need to start with a brothel”, he said quietly to the brats that were following him. “Try not to gape at the girls.”

Jean was opening his mouth, supposedly to say something stupid, but Eren elbowed him sharply before he made a noise. Jean looked like he was going to punch the other teen, but one glare from Levi was enough to set them straight.

The Underground looked just like Levi remembered. Dirty, smelly, with people begging at almost every corner of the streets some already dying in their own filth. Those who weren’t reduced to pitiful piles of flesh on the pavement were moving with purpose, alert to their surroundings, scanning others for weaknesses and signs of danger. The one thing that was different from Levi’s memories was the crowd. There weren’t as any people here back in his day… Still, he decided that it was to be expected. When he last was here the Wall Maria was still whole, there were no refugees who became destitute in a matter of minutes. Some of them must have escaped here when the government decided to commit a genocide by sending them all outside.

It had some good sides. It was easier to disappear in the crowd. Still, Levi started to worry if they had a chance to claim enough space for themselves if the population here became so dense.

As he thought, his feet carried him through the familiar lanes, the brats right on his heels. Finally, they entered one of the markets and Levi saw a familiar signboard hanging low over the heads of the passing people. It was even more awful than he remembered, the paint peeling off the ugly drawing of a woman in a vulgar pose. Instead of going to the main door he ducked into a side alley, gesturing the brats to follow. Between filth and trash there were unassuming door on the side, hideous brown paint coming off just like on the sign.

“Try not to make asses of yourselves”, Levi murmured before knocking.

They had to wait a bit before someone answered. Even then, the door didn’t open, just a muffled girly voice sounded on the other side.

“Who’s that?”

Levi was prepared for that.

“I just came to ask if Veena Mitch still works here.”

“And who’s asking?” There was a underlying tone of suspicion in this question. But since there was no ‘I’ve never heard of her’, Levi decided to take a leap.

“An old friend. Look, if she is there you can tell her that Lee wants to talk about her brother. Can you do it?”

There was a moment of silence, during which he felt brats staring at his back. After a few seconds the girl relented.

“I’ll go ask. Wait there.”

The following fifteen minutes were absolutely in Levi’s top ten of awful moments of his life. Getting to talk to Yan was his best shot, and since he couldn’t be sure if he still lived at his old place, trying to locate his sister was the safest option. But talking to Veena came with its own dangers. Very Veena-specific.

Finally the doors cracked open a bit, a familiar brown eye peeking through. Then there was a rustle of a chain being unlocked and the door flew open. Suddenly Levi was caught in a tight embrace by a tall, voluptuous female, with barely enough space to breath between her tits. He cringed. He never was a big fan of boobs.

“Well, fuck me sideways, if it isn’t our Lil’ Lee!” She cried in joy, tightening her grip around him. Here we go. His worst terrors made flesh.

He pushed her away, trying to be as gentle as possible.

“Let me go, for fucks sake. And don’t call me that. Ever.”

“Yeah, that’s definitely him”, he heard an amused male voice and tapping of a cane. “We haven’t heard from you for ten years, Lee. Let my sister have some fun.”

He managed to free himself from Veena’s embrace and risked a brief look over his arm at the brats. Both Eren and Jean were gaping at the scene with their mouths wide open, stuck somewhere between disbelief, horror and the obvious need to burst into a hearty laugh. Eren caught his eye and managed to ask:

“‘Lil’ Lee’, sir?”

Levi fought down the blush that threatened to appear on his face and hissed angrily, trying to hide his embarrassment.

“You haven’t heard anything. If I hear any of you repeating that shit, there won’t be any bodies to be found afterwards.”

“Well, let’s move this inside”, Yan suggested, leaning on his cane. His hair was a little bit longer than Levi remembered, with a few white strands on his temples. Fuck. They were starting to get old. “Are these kids with you?”

“Yeah, brats are with me. The dumb one is Eren, the one with a horseface is Jean. They can be trusted.”

Yan nodded.

“Well, Eren, Jean, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Yan and this is Veena, my sister and the Madame of this place.”

Levi’s eyes darted to Veena immediately.

“You’ve made a Madame, beanstalk?” He asked quietly, his lips twitching in a brief smile. “Congratulations.”

“Inside”, Yan repeated, his tone becoming urgent. Levi nodded and the five of them stepped inside the brothel.

Veena led them through the narrow, unadorned corridor. This was an employee-only area, so the girls didn’t waste any money to make it any fancier than necessary. Still, the building was relatively clean and in a good shape, looking much better than ten years ago.

“You seem to be doing pretty well.”

Veena smiled.

“We’ve managed to get more customers and Yan is keeping our books. Apparently, when you keep track of your expenses it’s getting more difficult to scam you.”

They entered the room at the end of the corridor, comfortable chairs and sofas arranged around a pretty big, low table. In the corner of the room was a small desk, paperwork strewn all over its surface. The furniture was well worn, but comfy and clean.

“I’ll get one of the girls to bring us some tea”, Veena said and left, leaving the men alone. Eren looked at Levi with questions in his eyes.

“Are they your friends, Captain?”

Levi saw red. It was one thing he explicitly told them to never mention, and here they were.

“Jaeger!” He scolded sharply. Yan smiled gently.

“Calm down, Levi. We know.” Then he turned to Eren who was blushing brightly with his hand clapped over his mouth. Jean was smirking few steps away. “You’d do better, however, not to use this title here. Some people were pretty disturbed when he left and if they learned that he joined military… Well, things might turn out ugly.”

Levi turned to his friend in a surprise.

“You know?”

Yan smiled, shrugging.

“When Lobov’s people took me to the hospital, they told me what the job was. When Lobov was arrested and they’ve send me back… Well, you’ve never returned. As I heard about a short, grumpy guy who was apparently Survey Corps’ super weapon…  It wasn’t difficult to put the facts together.”

“I see.” Levi was watching his hands intently while he listened to his old friend.

“I don’t blame you, Levi”, Yan said gently. “I would stay there too. And I never told anyone, just Veena. And you know she can keep quiet.”

Levi just nodded.

“How are Farlan and Izzy, though?” Yan smiled, his eyes darting to boys who found chairs on the opposite sides of the room. “I’m quite surprised that they didn’t come with you.”

There was the question he was dreading the whole time. Levi felt his nails biting into the palms of his hands painfully, as the blood run down from his face. It took him a long while to answer.

“Gone.”

He wordlessly begged Yan to leave this topic, to not ask any more questions. He couldn’t afford falling apart in the front of his subordinates. His friend, however, had one question more.

“When?” He asked calmly.

“Our first expedition outside”, Levi answered, his voice weaker and hoarser than before. He felt brats’ stares on his shoulders and it took all of his strength to not crumble under the weight. Yan was watching him expectantly, waiting for him to say something more, but the only thing that came to his mind was ‘It was my fault’.

Before he managed to say it, however, the door opened again, letting Veena in. Behind her trailed scantily clad girl with a tray.

“Sorry it took so long, Lee. I was checking the cups.” She took one from the tray and placed it in the front of him. “I washed this one twice for you.”

Jean snickered quietly, earning himself another deadly stare.

“Thank you, Vee. It’s appreciated.” Levi accepted the cup, letting Veena fill it with tea. It wasn’t as good as the stuff Erwin used to buy him from the supply funds, but it was still decent sort. Certainly much better than shit they could barely afford ten years ago. Vee and Yan were pretty successful.

“Well, I take it, it ain’t a social call”, Vee asked, seating herself on a cushioned sofa and looking at Levi expectantly. “Lots of folks think you dead, Lee, and might not be very happy when proven wrong.”

“It isn’t. I know that the news travel slow here, but… Well, we’re fugitives now.” Here, he said it. The word was heavy on his tongue and it was difficult to accept the reality that came with it. Still, it was necessary. “Erwin… The Commander was tried for treason, and while it’s a complete bullshit we had to cut him of the noose. Now we need a place to hide and information, so we can make some plans. So first, I wanted to ask if you know of any space to claim that we can hold having about a dozen people fit to fight.”

Vee furrowed her brows thinking and Yan absentmindedly poked the carpet with his cane.

“There’s this building on the Shiners’ turf…” He finally said.

“Shiners?” Levi questioned.

“They’re new, mostly kids. Their boss used to run with Big Bob but they had some kind of disagreement and they split. I suspect that getting rid of them could earn you some favor with BB. And even if you don’t, they shouldn’t give you much grief. I don’t think they can afford getting rough with you and your folks.” Yan bit his lower lip in thought. “Because I assume that the folks you’re talking about are all military trained?”

Levi nodded, his face as flat as usual, while he sipped tea.

“The best of the Survey Corps. Even these brats are vets, even if they don’t look much”, he nodded at Jean and Eren.

The boys reaction was definitely amusing. Even they weren’t dense enough to not recognize a compliment (even if a little backhanded), but while Jean’s mouth hung wide open, Eren looked a little bit constipated, probably torn between expressing his pride and getting offended by the second part of Levi’s remark. Yan chuckled softly.

“I stopped judging folks by their appearance long time ago, Lee. I used to run with you, after all.”

Eren made an odd sound and Levi glanced at the kid.

“Oh great. Now the brat is going to shit himself from your dumb talking”, he grumbled into his cup, before taking another sip. Veena looked at him tenderly. For all the hardships they had to endure in their lives, the Mitch siblings never lost their soft side. Levi almost envied them.

“We missed you, Lee”, Veena said gently. “Do you want to get back into business now?”

Levi nodded stiffly.

“Yeah. With the shit that went down we can’t stay aboveground now and we need to eat. And no matter what the rich shitheads think, we have still a job to do, so we need to get back on our feet. And since being upstanding citizens is out of question now…” He let his voice fade, setting his cup back on  the table.

“You’re talking about bigger stuff than we did together”, Yan’s voice was calm and understanding, but there was an undercurrent of worry. ”You never wanted this.”

Levi shrugged.

“I’ve got bigger enemies now and bigger responsibilities,” he answered. “I’ve found Kenny. He’s sided with the MPs and they are gunning after us now. We just can’t afford to think small.”

“The Ripper? With the MPs?” Vee opened her eyes wide. “Fuck.”

“Yeah. My thoughts exactly”, Levi agreed solemnly.

“The Ripper? Who’s that, sir?” This time Jean couldn’t contain his curiosity. Levi gave him a stink eye, but answered nevertheless.

“A guy that makes even me piss my pants. Is that enough for you, Kirstein?”

Jean paled abruptly and Eren made a small, strangled sound of surprise.

“Yes, sir.”

“He’s old, though”, Veena offered, but the hesitation was clear on her face. “He can’t be too dangerous anymore…”

“I’ve met him. He’s as mad and as fit as he used to be.”

There was a soft ‘oh’ coming from the woman and Levi took his time to study her appearance more carefully as he waited for someone to pick up the conversation.

The soft brown locks coiled around her face in thick waves, just like he remembered, but the tint was a little bit off. She must have been dying her hair then, probably graying just like her brother underneath the artificial color. The burgundy dress she wore was made of cheap fabrics, but much more classy than the thing he last saw her in. The cut vaguely resembled Levi dresses of women he saw at the shitty fundraisers he was forced to attend by Erwin, even if it showed more cleavage than he was used to.

Her face wore the signs of age and when she spoke he could see a gap where one of his incisors used to be. Despite these flaws, she still managed to maintain her beauty, and while he was never attracted to women, Levi somehow found her more impressive than before.

He was toying with the idea of expressing his admiration in some way, absently wondering what Farlan, who had a huge crush on her, would think about her now, when Yan finally spoke.

“This is going to be difficult and dangerous, Levi, but I get what you’re saying”, he said solemnly, tapping his chin with his fingers in painfully familiar gesture. “First, you must settle down somewhere. I’m going to be a bit busy for the next few hours, but I can get you and show you the place I told you about later. Where are you staying now?”

“At the Hole. You know, where we used to train.”

Yan nodded.

“Makes sense. But I can’t climb up there anymore…”

“We’ll be on the lookout for you”, Levi assured. “Thank you.”

“This place is a mess”, Yan admitted with a pained face. “It will be hard to get it to your standards. But nobody lives there, there’s a well and as far as I know the latrines are working. And nobody important claims it as theirs.”

“That’s what’s important”, Levi said, cringing internally. He knew he couldn’t expect too much, but this kind of reminder that the Underground was, in general, a filthy place was rather unpleasant. Still, he didn’t let his apprehension show. The brats were good at cleaning, after all.

“Alright”, Yan nodded. “Once it’s done we’ll talk shop. I’ll set you up with some people who will be happy to have the Cleaner in their corner later, so you can start somewhere.”

“You don’t have to”, Levi protested. “It’s risky, I don’t want you to compromise yourself. Once we have a place to stay and I get some intel we’ll manage.”

“Lee, darling, we _want_ to help you.” Vee leaned towards him, grabbing his hand in hers. Levi instinctually recoiled from the touch, but the woman ignored him, as she always did. As if nothing have changed since they saw each other. “We owe you a big time and we’re your friends. I can see you’re in a tight spot right now, so it’s our turn. We’re old stagers. We’ll be fine.”

“You don’t owe me a shit,” Levi disagreed firmly, finally freeing his hand. Vee just smiled shaking her head.

“Oh, boy…” She said. Yan was happy to argue.

“You were always there when we needed you, Lee. You might not be the most approachable person I know, but you’re a good man. A good man who always had our backs. Not to mention that it’s only thanks to you that I’m still able to walk. So don’t be a stubborn ass.”

Levi wanted to argue, to say that it was all Farlan, that he never cared enough for them to be so concerned with his wellbeing now.  But there were brats present and they already saw too much. Besides, he did come here to find some help. He just didn’t expect this warm reception.

“I’m not sure he can do it, sir,” came a soft voice to his left, where Jaeger was sitting. Vee burst into a fit of cheery laugh and Levi’s eyes snapped to the boy, promising murder. Eren apparently realized what he said, because his hand flew to cover his mouth as he looked at the Captain in a wide-eyed panic.

“I like that one,” Vee declared cheerfully. “Lee, stop bullying that boy. What’s your name again, kid?”

“Eren Jaeger, ma’am,” Eren answered, eyes darting from Levi to her in confusion. Levi rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Vee, stop it.” He barked. “I can’t have them talking shit behind my back, and you know it.”

The woman shrugged.

“Oh, please, Lee, it’s good that kid has some spunk.”

“I would prefer some brains.” He heard Jean snickering. “Stop neighing, Kirstein, it’s not like you’re any better.”

He rose to his feet.

“Fine. I think that we should wait with talking shop until you meet Erwin, and we need to get back before the rest will do something dumb. See you later, Yan. Vee, will you come with him?”

Veena shook her head.

“I can’t. I have business here to take care of. But visit again, please.” She smiled at him, standing up too. “Remember, you’re always welcome here.”

Levi just nodded, feeling uncomfortable again. Friends or not, he was going to have problems with the brats who witnessed this whole meeting. There was no way to stop Vee from being Vee, but the damage control was going to be taxing.

After a brief exchange of goodbyes they were again in the side alley. Levi closed his arms and cleared his throat, searching for the words that would convey his meaning. He was shit with words and he was well aware of it, so after a while he resigned, turning without a word to lead the kids back to the Hole. Little shits were going to talk shit no matter what he did. He just comforted himself with the vision of strangling Erwin for putting him in this situation.

They passed the market and went back into the labyrinth of streets, the brats trailing behind him with confused expressions. They were lost there, Levi realized with a sudden clarity, and it was up to him to teach them how to navigate through these filthy alleys, both literally and figuratively. And he had to do it fast, before they got themselves killed with their naivety and cockiness. He had no idea where to start.

 

As he soon discovered, the world had some ideas. As they rounded the corner, Levi felt a heavy weight of an unfamiliar hand on his shoulder. Yeah, that was to be expected. Well-fed faces, good leather, dense weave of their clothes. He pushed away the unpleasant thoughts about the hand that was touching him: he could have nervous breakdown later.

“Take your filthy paw away before I cut it off,” he hissed, voice low and menacing, without even turning around. He could guess the height of the man from the angle of his arm: the guy was a little bit shorter than Erwin. The hand was big and meaty, so the attacker was probably rather massive.

“Don’t think so, midget. You’re not going…” He didn’t finish, thrown over Levi’s shoulder like a ragdoll. He groaned as he hit the dirt and tried to stand up, but before he recovered, Levi was already on him, knee digging into his jugular, thin blade already in his hand. It was too small to actually hack off a limb, but it was still a deadly tool.

“I go wherever I want, fucker,” he said quietly, keeping calm despite the excruciating pain in his arm. “And you better stop bothering people on the streets. You might get hurt.” The man’s face turned red as he started desperately pawing at Levi. And he said, no touching.

His knife hand shot out in a well-aimed slash. Blood spurted from the wound making Levi stand up quickly to avoid getting it on his clothes. The guy would live, but if he didn’t miss - and he rarely missed - the cut tendons would take a long time to heal.

He grimaced, noting that despite his swift escape he still got blood on his sleeve and leg. He wasn’t looking forward to washing their clothes.

“Sir?” Jean inquired shakily, his face pale in the scant light. The attacker was still lying down, clutching his injured hand and wailing, sour smell of piss and shit filling up the air. Great. he soiled himself.

Levi turned to the boys, slightly disgusted.

“Does any of you have a handkerchief?”

There was a moment before they gathered their wits and Eren started to dig through his pockets. The square of fabric he offered Levi was crumbled but clean. Gotta love this kid, always so eager to please.

Levi cleaned his hands and his knife, nodding thanks to Eren then turned back, stepping around the man lying on the ground and continuing on his way like nothing had happened.

Shuffle of feet behind him told him that the brats moved to follow, even if a bit reluctantly. Levi could guess what were they thinking. They knew him pretty well at this point, and knew that while his moral compass would be consider screwed by many, it existed. As ruthless and harsh as he could be, he never enjoyed pointless violence and did his best not to harm people he considered innocent or misguided. He hoped that it would drive the point in: there were no innocents here and excessive violence was unavoidable.

The would-have-been mugger was still howling on the ground as Levi froze mid-step. It was eerily familiar, bringing to memory the countless times when it was Farlan who accompanied him instead of brats, usually keeping back with a smug expression, joining the fight only if it was really necessary. Instead he would deliver shitty one-liners, mocking his opponents and doing his best to make Levi appear bigger and more badass than he really felt.

In his mind he almost heard what Far would say now, leaning against the wall and cleaning his fingernails with his own blade. And, since Farlan couldn’t say anything anymore…

“Tell your pals that the Cleaner is back in town,” he shot over his shoulder, feeling only a little bit silly.

The startled gasp that answered him made him wonder if he really was silly. Was it possible that the folks down here still remembered his name despite the time that has passed? He was widely recognized back then, even if he wasn’t feeling ambitious enough to build his own crime empire, satisfied with running with his small crew. Was that enough to be still recognized?

“The Cleaner, sir? Your friend used that name before, but I wasn’t sure…” Eren finally asked after they walked another few blocks. The Hole was pretty close now.

Levi pinched his nose, not necessarily happy with the idea of answering the question, but knowing there wasn’t really a way around it. Not if they had to live here.

“I was used to be called that back in a day. Some folks might still remember. And it’s better not to use our real names here, especially in our situation.”

Eren was mulling over his words for a moment, then he lit up like a puppy, eyes flashing in the weak light of the gas lanterns scattered sparsely along the street.

“Does it mean that we get to choose our own cool nicknames?” He asked enthusiastically enough to make Levi’s lips twitch.

“That’s not how it’s usually done, but yes, you can. Just make sure to run it through me first, we need to be actually respected around the city.”

“Yeah, Jaeger, try to think of something that isn’t dumb shit for once,” Jean chimed in, not willing to pass a chance of teasing Eren. “It’s gonna be challenging.”

Levi shrugged, his impassive face never betraying his amusement. They were good kids, and when he wasn’t drowning in guilt and painful memories he could actually enjoy their bickering.

“The same applies to you, Kirstein. You’re as prone to spouting ‘dumb shit’ as he is.”

Eren snickered, apparently finding the remark more entertaining than it really was. When they left  the alleyways and stepped into the slopes surrounding the city, he spoke once again.

“What do you think about ‘the Shifter’, sir?”

Levi shot him an incredulous look.

“Very creative, Jeager,” he teased. “What about something that won’t alert the MPs to our presence as soon as the word comes around?”

“The Titan?” The brat suggested. The Captain rolled his eyes.

“Holy Maria, Rose and Sina,” he muttered. “You really are dense sometimes, aren’t you? One more Titan-related suggestion and I’m going to start introduce you as ‘the Brat’.”

That seemed to shut him up for a while, but what came from his mouth next wasn’t much better.

“The Destroyer?”

For the first time in years Levi had trouble with keeping his face straight. Jean didn’t even bother, doubling in half from the laughter.

“No.” That was all that Captain managed. Eren looked at him with a hurt expression.

“Why not?” He pouted. Levi breathed through his nose, once, twice, before he was able to answer.

“When you claim this kind of name you need to look the part or at least be able to back it up. In absolutely every situation. Otherwise you’d just become a laughing stock. While you’re a good fighter and you’ve got fire, you aren’t a ‘Destroyer’ material. Call yourself that on the streets and you’ll be ‘Twink the Destroyer’ in no time. And that’s if you’re lucky.”

Jean wheezed and Eren’s face turned deep red.

“Wha…? I’m not even gay!” He said to quickly for it to be believable. Levi shrugged.

“Sure, kid. Nobody cares.” He stopped, trying to locate the boulder with their gear. “And since you’re with me, people are going to assume stuff. Especially those who remember me from before.”

He finally caught the glimpse of their equipment and strode to the rock, wishing to come back as soon as possible. Erwin could use some good news.

“What kind of stuff, sir?” Jean asked hesitantly. Levi looked at him slightly annoyed, picking up his harness and starting to put it on.

“I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I prefer dicks over vaginas. If people remember me, they surely remember this detail too.”

“Sir?”

“You’re gay?”

Levi looked over the belt he was looping over his boot. For such a short climb there was no sense to fit it on properly.

He wasn’t really prepared for the sight of two boys looking at him with dropped jaws and eyes wide open. Eren somehow managed to pout despite this expression.

“So what?” Levi asked, starting to get a little bit angry. “Are you going to give me some shit over this glorious revelation?”

“And you haven’t told us?” Eren had the audacity to sound _offended._ Jean was just looking at him in stupor.

“I haven’t told you tons of shit,” Levi shrugged, getting back to gearing up, now that he knew that they weren’t going to pull anything funny. “It was never important.”

“How _that’s_ not important?” Came the incredulous reply. Levi sighed.

“Jeager. You’re my subordinate and my charge. Not my date. You don’t know my favorite color or any shit like that either.”

“But…”

“Explain to me how this knowledge would make you better at your job and I might even apologize. Now gear up.”

Luckily, that shut him up. Levi wasn’t sure how much of _that_ he could handle without snapping.  

The jump was short and using the gear for it felt a little bit excessive, but there was no way they would climb carrying the stuff.

He landed softly on the ledge and made his way behind the bend, where what was left of the Corps was sitting by a fire, chatting and dozing. It was rather pitiful sight when he realized that this is everyone they could count on. There wasn’t much more of them than in his old crew. Enough to make their lives down there… not comfortable, but passable, not enough to build an empire they needed to get back to the surface. Not to mention, that these weren’t the numbers one took outside the Walls.

But then Erwin looked up at him, weak sunlight reflecting of his golden hair when he smiled in greeting. No matter what the odds, he promised this fucker he’d do his best, so the failure wasn’t an option.

“I need two of you shits on a lookout. My friend’s gonna come for us in a few hours, he can’t climb up here. Connie, Historia.” He jerked his head in the direction he came from, taking off the gear to sit comfortably. “The guy walks with a cane, is greying on his temples. Brown hair and eyes, about Kirstein’s height.”

“Yessir!” Both brats moved quickly, even if Connie seemed to be disappointed to be separated from Sasha. The girl in question whined. Levi ignored it. He needed them to be paying at least some attention to their surroundings and wasn’t sure if the couple would be able to manage it if he sent them together.

He sat down on Erwin’s left, safely leeward from Hanji who started to smell a little ripe. Well, Yan promised them a well.

“I understand everything went as planned?” Erwin asked, looking at him carefully. Levi knew the exact moment when he noticed blood on his clothes, as suddenly on his brow appeared a small furrow.

“Not mine,” Levi assured, picking at slightly stiffening sleeve. There wasn’t much of it, but it was enough to make him slightly uncomfortable. “Some asshole decided that it was good idea to mug us. I proved him wrong.”

The furrow deepens and Levi fights the urge to straighten it with his thumb.

“Are you alright?”

The Captain sends Erwin a slightly pitying look.

“Please. That piece of shit couldn’t lie a hand on me. And yes, we have a place and we’ll have some help with planning. Speaking of a place...” He turned to the rest of the gathered soldiers.

“Better get your rest while you can, nobody sleeps today until the new place is spotless.”

There was a collective groan around the fire and Erwin gave Levi an amused look. The Captain shrugged. If Yan warned him, the place must be a real pigsty, and they won’t live in a dump. He wasn’t planning on shitting his brains out in the near future just because the brats were too lazy to properly clean the place.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not going to make you scrub the shitters, but someone has to keep watch while we’re working.”

“Finally I can see some bright  sides of being the Commander.” Erwin smiled brilliantly.

Levi almost told him that he wasn’t thinking about his title, but the fact that he was a helpless slob even when he had both hands, but he managed to bit his tongue before he said it out loud.

“Yeah. That. You’re lucky.” He murmured. His arm throbbed relentlessly. The painkillers have lost their potency and he have strained the wounded muscles more than once. Something must have shown on his face, because Erwin looked at him with worry.

“Do you need more painkillers, Levi?”

The Captain’s first instincts was to refuse, but when he tensed and the pain shot through his arm, he thought twice. They had a few hours before they had to move again and it was probably good for the healing to relax a bit. He nodded tersely and Erwin smiled, seemingly happy with his decision.

“Hanji, do you have any more of that?” He asked their resident lunatic. Hanji was already opening their medical satchel, digging through the contents. They fished out a vial with a vile looking liquid inside and gave it to Levi.

“Drink half of that, save the rest for later. Should be enough.” Levi nodded, uncorking the container and swallowing the medicine. He hid the drug in his pocket and turned to Erwin, starting to explain him slowly what happened and what he had arranged with Yan.

On the other side of the fire Eren was excitedly talking about ‘badass nicknames’ they needed, coming up with more dumb ideas. Levi finished his story, stretching slightly, just to wince in pain as he moved his arm. On the other side of the fire excited chatter turned into excited whispers and Levi honestly hoped that he heard wrong, when he caught words ‘Captain’ and ‘gay’ among the gossip.

Apparently, he wasn’t. Erwin raised his big-ass brows, looking at Levi in surprise.

“You told them?” He asked.

Levi made an annoyed sound.

“It came up in the talk. Folks down there know, so it’s better if they hear from me, I think.”

“I see. Have you told them about…?” The unspoken ‘us’ hangs in the air for a while.

“‘Ts not like ‘ts their business,” Levi answered, suddenly feeling very tired. It seemed that he was going to fill his bi-weekly sleep quota in a day, thanks to Hanji’s meds.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my, I was supposed to include it earlier. 
> 
> The nickname 'the Cleaner' wasn't my idea, it was awesome [Monsoon's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Monsoon/pseuds/Monsoon). She allowed me to use it and didn't want any credit 'because it's too obvious', but let's credit where it's due :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhm, this one is shorter than the previous ones, but since I haven't updated for so long I figured it'd be good to finally post anything before someone comes to my house with pitchforks and torches? 
> 
> I don't remember if I said that, but this story will be a little longer than I first thought. Not much, don't expect 50+ chapters, but I think... up to 10?

  
The Commander couldn’t help but smile, when his lithe partner suddenly yawned and rested his head on Erwin’s shoulder. It was a rare treat to see Levi sleeping, or even resting, so Erwin decided to enjoy that, even if it was induced by drugs. Maybe he should ask Hanji for some sleeping aids for him? However, getting him to agree to take them would be a feat in itself.  
Right now his fingers itched to bury themselves in black, soft hair and he habitually restrained himself. It was bad enough that Levi fell asleep on his arm, there’s no way that the kids wouldn’t notice that.  
Levi shuffled in his sleep, trying to find a more comfortable position and in a moment he wormed his way into Erwin’s lap, laying down with a contended sigh. Erwin bit his lip, stifling laughter. Well, now Levi couldn’t possibly blame Erwin for indulging himself a bit. Besides, now, that Levi admitted to the kids that he was interested only in men, they would soon guess the nature of their relationship even without any further clues.

Feeling excused, he combed softly through Levi’s undercut, looking down at his lover with a deep admiration.

“Oh holy Sina. He’s going to kill you,” Hanji whispered, looking at them with the mixture of horror and wonder in their eyes. “He’s going to maul you. Chop you to pieces.”

Erwin smirked, enjoying the warmth and the feel of short hair beneath his fingers.

“No, he won’t. I have it on good authority that he actually likes me. Besides, I am not the one who is cuddling.”

Hanji’s eyes widened comically.

“Oh no. He’s going to blame it on the meds. We’re both dead.”

“Calm down or you’ll wake him.” Erwin smirked, looking at Hanji’s terrified expression.

On the other side of the fire excited whispers gained intensity, the kids shooting incredulous looks at their Captain curled happily in their Commander’s lap. Erwin paid them no attention, pleased with the rare moment of quiet and the unusual tenderness of his partner.

The sunlight coming through the hole in the cave ceiling started to dim, when Historia made her way back to the fire, looking at the officers with wide eyes. She suppressed her curiosity though, saluting Erwin stiffly.

“There’s a man under the ledge. He seems to fit the Captain’s description.”

Erwin gently shook Levi awake. The younger man watched him for a few seconds with a bleary expression and a hint of smile on his lips, but then, suddenly, he sat up rapidly, painfully knocking Erwin’s jaw with his head.

“What the fuck is that?” He hissed, eyes narrowing dangerously at Erwin.

“You fell asleep, you were uncomfortable. Before you bite my head off: the position was your doing. And I think that your friend is here.”

“And you haven’t…” Levi’s voice trailed off. “Prepare to move!” He shouted at the soldiers, standing up and giving Erwin a vile look that clearly said ‘we’ll talk about this later’.

The kids started to pack up the camp in a flurry and Levi stood up and went to the ledge. He was back not even a minute later, giving Erwin a sharp nod.

“Yeah, that’s Yan. Move your fat ass, Smith, I need to introduce you.” There was a bite in his voice when he said his name and Erwin sighed inwardly. He wasn’t going to get off the hook in the near future.

  
Yan proved to be much more amiable than Levi, which came to Erwin as a kind of surprise. He hadn’t thought about it before, but even despite meeting Farlan and Isabel, he somehow expected the other dwellers of the Underground to share Levi’s disposition and social graces. Yan was nothing like him. Soft spoken and courteous, he took Levi’s grumpiness and ill manners with a fond amusement, not much different from Erwin’s own reactions. What really singled him out as an undergrounder was the sickly pallor of his skin and relatively cheap clothes — though it was obvious for the Commander that here he must have been considered pretty well-off. He didn’t seem starved, his garments were neat and he was wearing solid boots.

“It’s an unexpected pleasure to meet you, Commander,” he said, smiling, once the introductions were made. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you better.” There was a knowing glint in his eyes as he smiled and Erwin wondered what he learnt already. He was pretty sure that despite his pronounced limp and bright smile Yan was in a ways as dangerous as Levi himself.

“The pleasure is mutual,” Erwin answered with a smile of his own. “It’s not often that I have an opportunity to meet Levi’s friends and I’m most excited to make your acquaintance.”

“If you’re finished kissing each other’s asses we need to move,” Levi grumbled, looking at them with disgust, arms crossed on his chest. The rest of the Corpsmen gathered under the ledge, Hanji jumping down with her medical equipment being the last person left. As soon as their feet touched the ground they sprinted to them, looking at Yan with a wide eyes.

“Oh Holy Mariaroseandsina!” They started, words becoming unrecognizable fast. “So you’re the friend? Levi’s friend? You really exist! That’s amazing!”

“That’s Shitty Glasses,” Levi informed Yan sourly. “They are crazy. And they are genderqueer, so use ‘they/them’ pronouns. They might talk your ear off otherwise.”

Yan looked a little bit overwhelmed as he nodded stiffly, so Erwin decided to intervene.

“Hanji, please calm down. Yan, this is Hanji Zoe, Hanji, this is Yan Mitch. And I don’t know why the idea of Levi’s friends excites you so. You’re his friend too, after all.”

Hanji waved their hand, not looking away from Yan for a second.

“Yeah, but I’m told I’m crazy. He doesn’t look crazy.”

Levi yanked at Hanji’s ponytail, then looked down at his hand in disgust.

“Stop harassing him. He can’t deal with your kind of weird.”

He turned to Erwin and wiped his hand on his shirt, then, satisfied, looked back to Yan.

“Alright, we have to go. We can’t really hide the gear, so it’s better if we avoided people.”

The undergrounder nodded, slowly starting to walk along the cave’s wall.

“This will take longer than through the city, but this building is near the edge of the town, so we might even get lucky.”

“Good.” Levi turned to the rest. “We’re going to walk in the dark. Try to not sprain your ankles.”

  
It was dark, as Levi promised. The illumination from the city was barely there, and the natural light from the Hole disappeared completely. All of them stumbled on the loose rocks, only Levi and Yan walked confidently, avoiding these traps thanks to some weird sixth sense. Sometimes Erwin was able to see blacker objects in the impenetrable blackness, but he wasn’t really sure if it wasn’t his mind playing tricks on him. Once, the only thing that prevented his fall was Levi’s arm, appearing in the last second to catch his own. Erwin could swear that he heard something that sounded suspiciously like ‘hopeless’, muttered by his partner.

He couldn’t tell how long they walked in the darkness. It was tiring, it was suffocating and his sense of time went completely wild. Finally they turned back to the buildings. The area was still dark, but slowly weak lanterns started to appear. Levi looked around with a soft ‘oh’ of recognition.

‘Yeah, it’s just two blocks away,” Yan informed. Levi nodded.

Erwin was in the Underground before, but except that one time when he chased Levi without even looking at his surroundings, he visited other areas. As he now realized, the more representative ones, even if it felt odd to call any part of this slum that. The buildings they passed looked like they would collapse at any time, some parts already ruined. Yan guided them through narrow, empty streets, finally stopping in a front of rotten door.

“This should be it,” he declared. Levi stepped inside first, slowly opening the creaking gate. At the loud sound he winced.

“We probably should grease that,” he observed. Yan shook his head slightly.

“I would think twice about it. You can’t hide as you used to with this many people. The more things you have to alert you to intrusion the better.”

Levi’s face didn’t change, but he nodded after a moment.

“You might be right. But this sound is going to drive me mad.”

Yan smiled.

“Sacrifices we have to make, right?”

“Speaking of sacrifices, we don’t have a single broom. And we need to make at least three rooms usable before we get some. Spread, check for any traces of people living here. Don’t hurt anyone unless attacked. Erwin, keep an eye on the door.”

Erwin sighed, watching as Levi disappeared through the next door. Yan looked at him too and smiled at Erwin.

“I’ll better go and send some cleaning supplies your way before Lee has a nervous breakdown.”

“Was he always so obsessed with cleaning?” Erwin asked before Yan managed to leave. It felt uncomfortably like prying and he was pretty sure that Levi would be angry… But the temptation of talking to someone that knew him before was too big. Even with all that they shared, Levi was still pretty close-mouthed about his past.

“As long as I know him,” Yan smiled. “But it’s not really surprising considering what kind of shit he’s been through.”

“What exactly are you talking about?”

Yan hesitated, looking at Erwin carefully.

“I’m not sure… Listen, you know he’s a very private guy, and this is stuff that he had only told us once before he disappeared. I don’t know...”

The Commander sighed, suddenly very ashamed for sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. It was up to Levi to tell him, and if he didn’t want to, he had no business in snooping.

“Forget about it. I’m always eager to learn more about him, but I don’t need to know his secrets to know him. It was improper of me to ask.”

Yan nodded and left, promising once again to send some brooms.

  
Levi kept Erwin on the watch for the next few hours, coming down only twice or thrice to bring him a working lantern and then to bitch about the mess in the building. Somewhere along the line he donned his white cleaning handkerchiefs and thick gloves and Erwin watched him with a mixture of fondness and amusement: leave that to him to include this kind of supplies when organizing an emergency escape.

Apparently, the building that Erwin wasn’t allowed to see yet, had an atrium with a well and two staircases leading to the separate parts of higher levels. Left staircase was collapsed, so they were left with the rooms in the right wing. According to Levi, it was ‘filthy as fuck’ and there were some holes in the roof that they would have to patch against the thieves. But, overall, Levi seemed to be pleased, as he reported that there were six indoor toilets in the right wing, five of them patent. And, apparently, there was a boiler room with a broken boiler, which Levi deemed to be salvageable with few minor fixes, and two big washrooms with built-in bathtubs that he was determined to make pristine.

“Indoor toilets? A boiler room? Bathtubs?” Erwin was flabbergasted when the Captain brought him the news, tugging down the handkerchief that covered his face to show his uncharacteristically pleased expression. “How is it even possible?”

“You see, Eyebrows, that’s about the only good thing about living down here. This city was initially build for filthy rich fucks, so they spared no expenses when it came down to plumbing.” Levi grinned and there was something almost unsettling in this rare expression. “This way we got shitters better than in Mitras.” The grin disappeared and Levi was back to his usual, grumpy self in a matter of seconds. “Of course that’s true only for the oldest buildings and not all of them are usable. The rest drowns in their own shit. We’ve really hit a jackpot here. I need to thank Yan.”

“We’ll do that,” Erwin assured. “How is cleaning going?”

“Well, I think we’re mostly finished for today. It’s going to take some serious scrubbing to make the baths usable and most of the building still needs some work, but we managed to clean a few rooms, so we have a place to sleep and eat today. Since the brats are looking like they were going to collapse and I need yet to throw Hanji in the water, so we actually can sleep today without suffocating in their stink, I’m going to call it a day soon. I’ll send someone to take your place in a few.”

“They’re going to protest, you know that.” Erwin smiled slightly.

“I don’t care. They reek like they were dead for a week.”

With this comment, Levi turned on his heel and strode back into the building.

  
True to his words Levi soon send Mikasa and Sasha down. Girls brought with them a bedroll and two bowls of food, greeting the Commander with the nod as they set up their burden in a corner.

“Commander, the Captain told us to tell you that the dinner is ready”, informed Sasha solemnly. Erwin nodded, raising from his chair.

“I can see that. A bedroll?”

It was Mikasa, who explained.

“The Captain told us to take it. He said that there’s no reason for us not to rest, as long as we don’t fall asleep.”

“I see. Where is he?”

“Right staircase, the second door on the right”, the girl answered dutifully. Erwin nodded again, entering the atrium for the first time. The left staircase was, indeed, collapsed, nothing more than rubble of stone and wood. The balcony overhead looked intact, though, and Erwin was pretty sure that Levi was already making plans to fix it. The stairs on the right looked pristine. The Commander was sure that Levi either cleaned it himself, or made someone redo it several times before he was satisfied. There wasn’t a speck of dust on the weathered stone, and given the cracks marring its surface, that wasn’t a small feat.

The second floor was obviously a work in progress. On Erwin’s left there was an old wooden railing, some of the boards broken and collapsed. On his right there was a series of doors running along the whole right wing of the building and ending abruptly on the opposite side of the atrium, where the balcony was crumbling. The first door was shut closed, and when Erwin gave an experimental tug on the handle, he discovered that it was locked too. The second door, the one Mikasa directed him to, was cracked open, and Levi’s annoyed voice came through.

“Jaeger, sometimes I could swear that you have nothing but crap between your ears. Who the fuck told you to open that fucking window?”

Erwin opened the door further, to see his short and terribly pissed Captain glaring at Eren, who stood with sheepishly bowed head, with a long plank in his hand. After a brief inspection, the plank seemed to be a part of destroyed window frame, that must had given up when the boy tried to pull it open. What probably aggravated Levi even more, Eren stood in the middle of pile of debris: flecks of old paint, splinters of wood and pieces of fallen plaster.

“It’s a good thing that the shutters seem to be whole”, Erwin commented lightheartedly, drawing attention of everyone in the room. The Captain seemed to relax slightly when he saw him, and Eren let out an relieved huff.

“Erwin”, Levi greeted him calmly, squatting next to the pot standing by the fireplace. It was lit, and next to it lay a stack of broken wood - probably a result of the cleaning of the most troublesome rubble. Jean was already preparing bowls for everyone, when Levi filled two of them and handed one to Erwin. It was a thick stew, full of unrecognizable pieces. The Captain caught the Commander’s doubtful look and a spark of mirth flickered in his eyes.

“It’s Sasha’s cooking. If anyone could make anything edible from the shit we have left, it’s her”, he deadpanned, waiting for Erwin to sit down and put the food on the floor, before he gave him a spoon. Behind his back, Eren tried to approach the pot, but he hadn’t accounted for Levi’s catlike hearing.

“You’re not eating, brat, until you clean the mess you made”, the Captain said calmly, without even looking, then sat down next to Erwin, digging in swiftly. Erwin couldn’t help, but notice his backward grip on the spoon and how he slouched over the food. It made sense — they had tiring two days, Levi was injured, drugged and he spend last few hours working. The Commander immediately felt guilty. He shouldn’t have allowed him to clean and strain the wound.

“You’re doing this again”, he whispered, leaning over Levi’s ear. He didn’t mind his manners, but knew that his Captain hated showing people anything that wasn’t his perfect persona, constructed over the years. Levi immediately straightened, almost headbutting Erwin in the process and fixed his grip.

“Shit. Thanks”, he whispered, sounding slightly spooked. Erwin just smiled discreetly.

“I think we should head to sleep when we’re finished”, he suggested. Levi shook his head slightly.  
  
“Hell, no. I have slept for the better part of the day”, he protested quietly. “There are still things to do and Yan can come any moment, and I don’t even think I’d be able to sleep now.”

“I can see you’re tired, honey”, Erwin whispered, but was immediately interrupted by a quiet, angry hiss.

“They’ll hear, you moron.” The Commander shrugged, but obediently lowered his voice even more.

  
“So what? We’re not military anymore. There’s no brass to report us to. I don’t see why I shouldn’t indulge a bit and treat you like you deserve.”

“Because that’s private”, Levi hissed with a deepening scowl. “The brats don’t need to know.”

In his agitation he raised his voice a little, earning some nervous looks from the rest of the corpsmen.

“I still can’t see what’s the harm. Besides, don’t you think they already guessed? You basically crawled into my lap earlier.”

That certainly wasn’t the right thing to say. Levi’s eyes flashed with anger as he put down his half-eaten meal and stood up, tugging on Erwin’s shirt in a silent command. Erwin could resist, of course, but he didn’t see anything good coming from engaging in a sleeve tug o’war with his Captain, so he stood up and followed the tiny ball of fury outside the room.

Levi led Erwin two doors down the balcony and opened it with a pointed look at the Commander. The room was dark, but Erwin could see that it was narrower than the first one, the fireplace clean and filled with fuel, but unlit. There was a pile of wood beside it, too, and two bedrolls were laid side by side in a sensible distance from it.

“Shit. I should’ve grabbed a candle”, spat Levi and moved to the fireplace, patting down his pockets. He took out something Erwin couldn’t see - probably matches - and crouched down, manipulating by the wood.

After a few minutes of heartfelt cussing he managed to lit the dry planks and turned to Erwin, with his arms crossed on his chest and a furious glare. The Commander gave him his most placating smile, but it only deepened his lover’s scowl.

“Cut the shit, Erwin”, he demanded sternly, fixing Erwin one of his best glares. While he was mostly immune to Levi’s icy stares, he had to admit, that this one was a really good one, almost making him uneasy. Almost.

He briefly considered playing dumb, but he was pretty sure that Levi would never fall for it. So, with a resigned sigh, he decided to not aggravate him more.

“I care for you, Levi. Does showing it really make you so uncomfortable?”

Levi scoffed. He resembled an angry cat at the moment and for a second Erwin had a mental picture of pointy ears flattened back against his skull.

“Of course it makes me uncomfortable. You can’t get all sappy and handsy in the public and expect me to put up with this shit.”

“I never got ‘handsy’”, the Commander protested, earning himself another vicious frown. “And you _did_ crawl into my lap.”

“You should’ve woken me up, you fuckin’ nitwit, not pet me like a shitty animal.”

“Levi, you are tired and injured. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

The Captain let out an exasperated sigh.

“Don’t you think that becoming a laughing stock would be more disturbing?”

Erwin blinked, once, twice, trying to process what he just heard.

“Becoming a… what?”

“Erwin, I know that the past few days might have rattled a bit that shitty brain of yours, but I don’t think I was unclear.”

“You really believe that disclosing our relationship would make anyone..?” Erwin’s voice trailed off a bit, as he looked at his partner in sheer disbelief.

“Of course it would, Erwin. Just try to think for a second with your head instead of dick”, Levi’s irritation seemed to grow with every second, as he adapted sarcastic, high-pitched voice:

“Look at this midget, plays so tough, but he just sucks up to the Commander like a little bitch. Fancies himself a thug, but he’s just a pint-sized cocksucker. That gnome...”

“Levi, stop”, Erwin cut in sharply, cupping Levi’s jaw with his only hand. “That’s ridiculous. Nobody will…”

The Captain jerked his head away, his angry glare turning desperate.

“I can’t have people talking shit behind my back, Erwin”, he pleaded.

“Are you worried about the Corps or the undergounders?” Erwin asked calmly, letting his hand fall down uselessly. It stung a bit, how Levi recoiled at his touch, but his first priority was to understand the fears of his lover.

“Both”, Levi sighed, running his hand through his hair in a tired gesture. It seemed that he calmed down, now that Erwin proved he was willing to talk. Not that it wouldn’t be an arduous process, given Levi’s reluctance when it came to speaking about anything remotely personal. The Commander had a feeling that with all the meaningful talks they had in the past few days his grumpy Captain was reaching his limits.

Still, it couldn’t be helped.

“Let’s start with our people”, he prompted calmly. His lover was silent for a while, but Erwin waited patiently. There was no use in trying to force him to speak before he was ready.

“I need the brats to respect me, now even more than ever”, he finally explained. He spoke slowly, carefully choosing every word. “They need to listen if we’re going to ever get out of this shit we’re in, and they have to trust me. It wasn’t a problem before, because I could always say that I’m acting on your shitty orders. But now they know, that it’s a strange situation for you too and that you have to rely on me more than outside the Walls. They can’t think that my judgement is compromised.”

Erwin sighed, his hand itching to touch his partner again, but he refrained for now, trying to respect his need of space.

“Levi”, he started softly. “They won’t think any less of you just because we’re together. They respect you not because you’re unapproachable but despite it. Everyone here knows that you’re competent and capable and the fact that we’re… close won’t change anything. They already know you’re crude, short, pedantic and sometimes downright scary. But they know also that you have feelings. It doesn’t make you a lesser man in their eyes.”

The Captain visibly deflated, but there was still doubt in his gaze.

“Something still bothers you”, Erwin observed patiently. Getting Levi to talk sometimes resembled calming a spooked horse. Some detached part of his mind started to ponder if a sugar cube or a sweet apple would help him coax some answers from his Captain, but he waved the thought away. His lover probably would give him the cold shoulder for a week if he ever heard about it.

“They gonna think I’m weak”, Levi finally muttered, distracting Erwin from his unbecoming speculations. His eyes were fixed on the floor as he evidently avoided his partner’s gaze. “I’ve spend all these years feeling like a sham. I don’t wanna them to catch on it.”

“May I touch you?” Erwin asked cautiously. Levi was strung up and vulnerable right now and Erwin knew from experience that he often rejected any physical comfort in such situations. Thankfully, this time the smaller man nodded weakly.

The thing that irked Erwin the most about his lost arm wasn’t his inability to properly use normal 3DMG or the fact that he couldn’t wield dual blades anymore. The biggest issue was that he had only one arm to pull Levi close, when he fervently wished to embrace him properly. He did his best, though, hugging him firmly with his left arm and awkwardly resting the stump of the right on his shoulder.

“Nobody will ever think, you’re weak, Levi”, he whispered into dark hair. “You are the Humanity’s Strongest and everyone knows you earned that title. People were and are looking up to you and those who cross us are afraid of you. Why do you think the government took so drastic measures to get rid of us?”

“Because of you, Erwin”, Levi snapped, regaining some of his previous fire. “They are afraid of you, and your dumb pretty face and that shitty brain of yours that can outwit anyone. It has nothing to do with me.”

Erwin smiled, his face still hidden in Levi’s hair.

“You’re wrong. I command some respect, that’s true, but I’m a cripple, Levi. It’s easy to dismiss a cripple. They could easily force me into retirement as soon as I lost my arm. They could’ve taken everything from me. But you know, what was always the first question, when I arrived in the capital without you? It was ‘where’s your guard dog, Smith?’ And they were relieved every time when I said that you were engaged in other duties. They would never dare to act so boldly if you were with me. Because they know that you’re the most loyal and powerful man within the Walls.” He kissed the crown of Levi’s head and pulled apart, looking in his eyes with a slight amusement. “You know, they were always much more polite to me when you were around.”

The Captain scoffed.

“These swines? Polite? If that was their ‘polite’ I can’t imagine what the ‘rude’ looks like. And they say that _I_ have no manners.”

Erwin chuckled softly.

“You’re blunt and a little bit rough on the edges, but I wouldn’t exactly say that you have _no_ manners.”

Levi scowled again, but the corner of his mouth twitched a little.

“You’re bullshitting me again, Smith.”

Erwin smiled wickedly.

“Guilty as charged.” He kissed Levi’s cheek softly. “Now, are you feeling better?”

The Captain grunted, but nodded sharply.

“Yeah, you could say so.”

“And what about hiding our relationship? I don’t want to pressure you, but I don’t want you to be my dirty little secret any longer. I care about you and I’m proud to have you, and nobody can hurt us with that knowledge anymore.”

“I’m not so sure about that last part, Erwin”, he answered soberly. “But I’ll think about it, alright? Just try to restrain yourself for a while.”

Erwin knew that it was as good as he’d get, so he nodded, for now satisfied.

“Thank you, Levi. I wouldn’t dare ask for more.”

  
Erwin was a good kisser and Levi genuinely enjoyed their private time, so when Erwin pulled his chin up and bend for a kiss, he complied without a second thought. As usually, Erwin’s lips and touch were calming, safe, and Levi toyed for a moment with the idea of having this luxury unrestricted in any way. Sharing the warmth with his lover without looking at other people. But while he could get over people’s opinions, Erwin was a vulnerability for him. A precious one, one he wouldn’t give away for a world, but a vulnerability nevertheless. Sure, Erwin was right. There wasn’t a military brass anymore to separate them, strip away their ranks or subject them to any other sanctions for breaking the regulations. But still, if Erwin was hurt, Levi would be hurt as well. He still didn’t think it would be sensible to give their enemies this knowledge as a weapon. On the other hand, he did rescue Erwin from under the hangman’s hands and people didn’t have to know the exact nature of their relationship to understand that Erwin was important to him. It was probably all over the press already and soon the message would get down here. They might intended to lay low, but they didn’t really have the luxury to hide, and as soon as they hit the streets and start doing business, people were going to start to speculate. And someone would connect the dots, sooner or later.

Erwin’s hand slid down his back to cup his ass, driving away any thoughts, and Levi relaxed. For now, they were together in a room with closed doors and shutters and nobody would dare to bother them without a very good reason. He might as well enjoy that.

As soon as he made this decision, loud rapping at the door interrupted their intimate moment. Levi growled lowly, not happy to be stopped now. Erwin chuckled at the sound.

“Sirs, master Yan has come back”, Armin’s hesitant voice sounded through the wood. “He says you were supposed to talk.”

Levi broke away from Erwin, scrunching his nose and flipped a bird at Erwin when he noticed his tender gaze. Of course, that only made the fucker smile wider, as Levi made an annoyed sound.

“Wipe that look off your face, shithead. We have work to do and I don’t want you groping me until we’re alone again.”

“I wouldn’t, Levi. You made your opinion on that matter pretty clear”, Erwin assured him, straightening his shirt. Levi looked at him with a closed expression. Something about him had bothered him this whole time, and only now he managed to pinpoint the source of his uneasiness, when Erwin pulled at his clothes. It was the damned bolo tie, or rather the lack of it. He never liked that thing, both for its appearance and the weight it put on Erwin’s shoulders. But now, seeing him stripped of it, so brutally, so unjustly… He turned away, gritting his teeth. There was no reason to dwell on that stupid thing.

“We’re coming!” He answered Armin loudly, adjusting his own shirt and heading to the door. He heard Erwin following and by the time he walked through the door he was composed and focused again.  



	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhm. Surprise? :D Another shorter chapter to make up for the fact that previous one was only 5k words long. But... I'm thinking that I might switch to the chapters of similar length now, since I'm not anymore restricted by the number of chapters and it's simply easier to write in smaller chunks. 
> 
> So... I hope you'll enjoy.

As they left the bedroom Erwin could see two teenage boys in the yard unpacking boxes and bags from a little cart. It was small enough to fit through the doors, too narrow to fit any pack animal to pull it. As he thought of it now, he had never seen any animal in the Underground, except of some stray cats who obviously belonged to nobody. It made sense, he had to admit. A big cave without any trace of sun wasn’t the best place to keep any animals, especially as big as horses or donkeys. Add the intimidating stairs that led to the city from Mitras above and overwhelming poverty and the reasons seemed clear enough. They had to use hand-pulled carts then to transport bigger loads. That was a valuable information, worth storing for later.

He entered the bigger room after Levi, to see Yan comfortably sitting on a borrowed bedroll and using dirty bowls to held a big map open. Levi clicked his tongue in irritation.

“These are supposed to be washed, not used as paper weights,” he commented sourly. Yan looked at him and just shrugged with a smile.

“I just used what I had on hand. Stop whining.”

That caused a few jaws to drop and Erwin had to stifle a smirk. It was rare to meet someone so completely immune to Levi’s glares, but he guessed it made sense. There was a lot of history here.

Levi gritted his teeth, gathered the bowls and pushed them into Sasha’s arms without looking. Yan looked up at him again, protesting quietly.

“Oi!”

“Shut up,” was the only answer he got, as Levi pulled first dagger from his boot, tossing it at one corner of the map. The second one, tucked into another boot, followed and this time Erwin couldn’t contain his laughter as he watched Levi shrug to produce another two knives from the sheaths on his forearms. These two were thrown precisely too, landing on the last two corners of the map, as Levi glared at his old friend. “Happy now?”

Yan raised his brows.

“Still keeping a little arsenal on you?” He asked with a smirk.

“You never know,” the Captain grumbled, sitting down on the other side of the map. Erwin decided to join them, as he definitely needed to be a part of this conversation.

“Alright, let’s get down to business. It’s late and we all had a long day,” Yan clicked his tongue in a manner weirdly similar to Levi, as he focused on the map. “I figured out that you might be happy to know where the borders are now and who sits where.”

Levi nodded and for a moment turned his attention away from the map.

“Jeager, make some tea for us, it’ll take a while.” Eren nodded, shuffling through the supplies. “For everyone, sir?” He asked timidly and Levi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He’d like to hog all the tea for himself and Erwin, but it wouldn’t be really fair. Especially in their fucked up situation.

“Yeah, Jeager, for everyone who wants,” he agreed. “And come, sit down here and listen, brats. You all should start learning about this shit.”

Hanji plopped beside him heavily and Erwin noticed with slight amusement that Levi scrunched his nose in disgust. It seemed that even through it was late, Hanji was going be dunked in water today.

“Alright. Then let’s get started.” Yan got a pencil from his pocket and bend over the map, before Levi put a hand on his shoulder.

“Shithead, that shit is expensive,” he murmured quietly. Yan shrugged.

“I can afford that, and you need it. Now, will you please shut up?”

Levi grunted, crossing his arms over his chest and looked at the parchment.

“Thank you. So right now the city is divided like that…” In a quick moves he started to draw lines over the city, splitting it in uneven districts. “We are here.” He marked their position with a cross. The part their new headquarters were situated in was relatively small compared to others. “That’s the Shiners’ turf. Expect them to knock soon, be prepared for a fight. They shouldn’t be a big problem to you, but since Tweaky is pretty full of himself, they won’t want to talk. He likes people to ask him first before they claim any place here, that’s why so many buildings around are empty. But he runs mostly with kids, and while they’re pretty vicious, they aren’t well trained.”

Eren started to pour the tea and handled first cups to Levi and Yan. While Levi thanked with a curt nod, Yan smiled politely and took a deep sip before he continued.

“Good stuff,” he praised. “Back to the topic. Until two or three months ago Tweaky used to run with Big Bob.” He pointed at another part of the map, this district much bigger than the area belonging to the Shiners. “I dunno what made them fight, but Vee told me that BB was really pissed at Tweaky. If I know the guy, anyone who teaches Tweaky a lesson would immediately get in his good books.”

“Why he hasn’t done it himself?” Levi asked, his eyes never leaving the map. “I remember that guy, I don’t believe he doesn’t have resources. So?”

“He’s in the middle of the pissing contest with the Marian,” he tapped another part of the city. “The guy appeared when Maria fell, got pretty cozy in here. He runs a crew of abovegrounders, a few of them actually were behind the Walls and managed to get back…”

Levi looked up from the map at that, catching Erwin’s eyes for a moment. There was only one way a civilian could get behind the Walls and Erwin knew it weighted on Levi’s shoulders as heavily as on his own. He always felt responsible for the people that hadn’t came back when they were forced to take the ‘conscripts’ on that calamitous expedition. He was also pretty sure that these few who returned with them remembered their faces for the rest of their lives.

“Then I guess they won’t be happy if they learn who we are,” Hanji observed soberly, their expression uncharacteristically subdued. They also remembered that mission.

Yan raised his head, taking in their grim expressions and his eyes widened for a second when he connected the dots.

“Right. I haven’t thought about it.” He rubbed the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed. “I’m sorry, it’s just… What you guys do… did… it’s pretty exotic for most of the folks. It takes a while to get used to the thought that you’ve all seen and fought actual Titans.”

“It’s fine, we get it,” Erwin assured with a sigh.

“We wouldn’t be doing our jobs right if you felt otherwise,” Levi said in the same second, his voice rougher than usual.

The Commander took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment — Levi’s hurt expression too painful to look at. It wasn’t much; just the look in his eyes and the crease between his brows deeper than a moment ago, the corner of his lips twitching, pulling further down. It was enough for Erwin, though, even if no one else noticed. It wasn’t fair to Levi. He didn’t deserve anything Erwin put him through. He didn’t deserve any of that guilt that burdened him, he didn’t deserve to watch his friends die one by one. He didn’t deserve to be pulled back here into the gang wars and eternal darkness. He was the most noble, caring and loyal man Erwin ever met and all he got from him was even more pain.

“Oi, Eyebrows,” the man in question called to him, sounding annoyed. “Don’t fall asleep on me. I need you to know this shit.”

“I’m sorry, Levi. Just lost in thought,” Erwin smiled stiffly, knowing that he wouldn’t fool his lover for a second, but that he wouldn’t press when the company was present. Hopefully Levi would forget about that later. Gods knew he had enough on his mind.

“So, BB and the Marian,” Yan easily returned to the previous topic. “Their feud is over the brothels. BB controlled the majority of business in the city until the Marian started to take over his brothels, one by one. He bribed some of the girls to change houses, some were blackmailed, we believe there were also kidnappings. He opens his own places then, employs girls that worked for BB. Big Bob is livid.”

“Not a big surprise,” Levi commented. “I wouldn’t call that guy ‘nice’ but he always seemed decent enough for a crime boss. I remember that people under his protection were usually well cared for.”

“Yeah, though in the last few years it’s been a little bit worse. He’s getting old, others are getting bolder, so he’s losing his influence, slowly but regularly.” He looked at Levi sharply. “Just don’t take it wrong. He’s still one of the biggest players here and you should at least consider siding with him. Play it right and he might even leave you all his shit when he finally catches the knife. He always thought highly of you.”

Levi nodded, deep in thought.

“What about Vee?” He asked. “Is she under his protection?”

Yan shook his head, looking rather smug.

“Nah. She managed to get herself neutral. ‘Lady Margaret’ is a meeting ground now.”

The Captain clicked his tongue.

“Not bad,” he admitted. “How?”

“You know she has her way with people. We managed to buy the Lady from Cross Jack before he died and since Mary Heiss died from influenza and her daughter was much less agreeable… Well, Vee managed to convince bigshots that she’s more trustworthy.”

“You managed to buy the Lady? How the fuck did you do that?” Levi’s eyes widened for a second as he looked at his friend in shock. Erwin guessed that buying a brothel was a rather expensive endeavour, so the shock was probably justified.

Yan chuckled.

“I’ve managed to snatch a thing or two on my way back from the hospital,” he admitted.

“You either ‘snatched’ the King’s own crown or got something much more permanent if you managed to buy the whole brothel,” Levi observed.

Yan smirked.

“I might have talked some of the staff into getting into business with me. I’m one of the main meds suppliers now.”

The Captain blinked.

“Not bad,” he repeated after a moment of silence. “Alright, let’s go on with this shit.”

“Well, some of us might need some clarification,” Erwin interrupted. “I take it that ‘a meeting ground’ is a neutral area?” Levi nodded.

“Yeah, no fighting or any other weird shit allowed. You’re supposed to leave all your weapons by the entrance and behave,” he said. “It’s protected by an agreement between all the bosses. If anyone steps out of the line, the rest turns on him. I remember once when something like that happened. It was a bloodbath.”

“I see,” Erwin said, turning his attention back to the map. Yan tapped his pencil on an another section.

“Alright, we have Big Bob, the Marian and Tweaky, next one you should know about is Linn…”

The meeting went on for hours. Even Erwin, with his sharp mind and aptitude for politics started to have problems with following after a few. In the meantime he noticed Levi downing discreetly the rest of the painkiller, his eyes getting slightly droopy as the medicine started to work. He didn’t avert his stare from the map, though, even as his gaze lost its sharpness and his shoulders started to slouch a bit.

“I think we’ll stop here for today,” the Commander interrupted Yan finally. “Levi’s wounded and he needs his rest and it’s vital for him to be fully alert during this conversation.”

“’m fine,” the Captain protested, but his speech was already slurred a bit. Yan turned to the small man rapidly, looking at him with concern.

“What happened?” He asked. “Do you need a doctor?”

“He’s got shot,” Erwin explained. “And no, thank you. Both Hanji and Moblit have medical training, they can take care of him well enough.”

Yan looked at Hanji for a long moment, finally nodded.

“Fine. Anything you need, including medicines for this moron — just let me know. I’ve brought some supplies with me earlier, but since I didn’t know what you might need, that’s rather generic selection. I can’t come here tomorrow, but if you swing by the Lady, either I or Veena will finish these explanations for you.”

“Thank you, Yan,” Erwin smiled warmly, standing up. “We’ll do our best to come.”

As Erwin organized kids to bring the supplies Yan brought from the entrance and set up the watch rooster, he observed with the corner of his eye as Hanji tried to get Levi up, just to have their hand swatted away.

“I’m just tired, Shitty Glasses. Stop hovering over me like some kind of smelly… hovering… thing,” he murmured, raising slowly to his feet. Hanji chortled, unperturbed and grabbed his elbow when he swayed a little.

“Very eloquent, Shorty, even for you. Now stop being an ass and let uncle Hanji get you to bed,” they insisted, dragging the drugged Captain out of the room.

“The Captain must feel really sick,” Connie observed, looking after them.

“I believe it’s the medication Squad Leader gave him. Now, don’t you have something to do, Springer?” Erwin smiled stiffly at the kid, aching to get back to his partner.

“Uhm, yes, sir,” he said, before he shuffled after Jean and Nifa to collect the boxes left by Yan.

  
It took Erwin a moment before he could leave the rest of the Corpsmen and join Levi in the second room. The supplies were ordered, watch rooster decided; the Commander set another watch point on the roof, figuring that it wouldn’t hurt them to be alert. When he finally entered the smaller room Levi was sitting on the bedroll, slouching, while Hanji was changing his dressings.

“No cleaning for you tomorrow, Grumpy,” Hanji was saying, discarding the bloodied bandage. “No, scratch that, for the next week. I hoped you’ll be at least a little responsible and stop when it starts to _hurt_ , but apparently you’re even dumber than I thought.”

“I’m not living in a pigsty, Shitty Glasses,” Levi hissed, as the Squad Leader run a rag drenched in something yellow over the wound. Hearing the door open he turned his head slightly and looked at Erwin. “Eyebrows, tell that freak to fuck off.”

“I’m afraid I’m with Hanji on that, Levi,” Erwin smiled, sitting beside him and taking his hand. Hanji cackled, picking up a jar with a sticky, brown substance and smearing it generously on Levi’s arm.

“You can terrorize the kids to your heart’s content, if it makes you feel better,” they suggested. “I know that in depth of that small, cold heart of yours, you love to watch them scuttle in fear.”

Levi scoffed.

“I don’t ‘love’ that. I just have standards.”

“Sure, sure,” Hanji finally took the bandage and started to wrap it around the wound. “So you can glare all you want, point your fingers and everything, but if I see you touch a brush I’m going to tie you up and leave for Erwin.”

Erwin raised his brows. Hanji shot him a look over the Captain’s shoulder.

“Don’t tell me…” They waved their hands wildly, pulling slightly at the bandage. “Ouch, sorry, Shortstack. You should definitely try bondage the next time you get freaky.”

“How about you mind your own fucking business?” Levi snapped, his head turning back so fast, Erwin started to worry about him giving himself a whiplash. He squeezed Levi’s hand calmingly.

“Oh, Shrimpy, you’re my fucking business,” Hanji cooed, securing the bandage. “You know I love you both like a mother would.”

“Keep my mother out of that, shitfreak,” Levi answered, his eyes flashing, but he took the vial they handed him and drunk it obediently.

“Fine, fine,” apparently the Squad Leader realized they’ve crossed some border, as they backed off, taking the glass container from the Captain and stuffing it back in their pack. “Now, go to sleep like a good boy and get some rest for once,” they instructed, getting serious again. Levi obviously wanted to answer with another scathing comeback, but his eyes got even more hooded and he stifled a yawn.

“What the hell did you give me?”

“Something to help you sleep and get rid of any infection you’ve might got. We don’t want you to get feverish, do we?”

Levi just shook his head, making Hanji smile widely in satisfaction.

“Good. Erwin, now your turn. I hadn’t had the opportunity to look you over since we got out of Mitras.”

Even though they were fast, when they finished looking over Erwin’s bruises Levi was already asleep, lying on his stomach and snoring quietly.

“I don’t see anything really dangerous here, but these bruises will take some time to heal,” they said quietly, wrapping a bandage around his torso; they suspected a rib could be slightly fractured. “If you’ll need any painkillers tell me, and please, _please_ , don’t be as bullheaded about it as Shorty. We need both of you to be in a top shape.”

Erwin smiled, nodding slightly.

“Fine, I’ll try to not be ‘bullheaded’,” he promised.

  
It seemed that it was a mere moments after he closed his eyes when he woke up, roused by the commotion downstairs and Moblit shaking his arm urgently.

“Commander, Captain,” he whispered, when Erwin opened his eyes. Beside him, Levi was slowly stirring awake, with his hair terribly mussed from the sleep and a groggy expression.

“What the hell?” He asked, rubbing his eyes.

“We’re under attack,” Moblit answered quickly. “I think it might be these guys Master Yan was speaking about.”

“Fuck, so fast?” Levi stood up immediately, pulling his shirt on and grabbing the knife he had left by the pillow. Erwin followed, catching mid-air another knife Levi had tossed him. With a worry he noticed that his Captain’s moves were a little bit off, as if the medicine hadn’t wore off completely.

“Levi, I want you to stay behind,” he requested, making his way to the door.

“What? Fuck no.” Erwin had to admit, that was an answer he expected.

“You’re wounded and still drugged, Levi. We don’t have time for this now, so please, just do what I say.”

Fortunately, following Erwin’s orders was a second nature to Levi so while he followed, he stayed put on the stairs as Erwin dashed into the entrance hall, followed by some stragglers, including terribly flushed Jean and Armin.

He paused for a moment in the doorway, trying to get the feel for the situation. The front door was kicked open and hanging pitifully on one hinge, and there were several faces he didn’t recognize, engaged in the brawl with his subordinates. He hadn’t had time to count, but there were no more than ten of them — though most definitely more than five. It still was good they hadn’t outnumbered them, especially when their best fighter was out of action.

In fact, he probably didn’t have to get down there. The kids seemed to be handling the intrusion well enough.

He spotted Mikasa by the door, dancing nimbly around her opponent. Eren, swinging a mean right hook straight into the jaw of his rival — as far as Erwin could see a boy of similar age, though his face was already obscured by blood. Jean just broke nose of a man who tried to come at him from behind with a vicious snap of his head as Nifa placed a well aimed kick at another man’s sternum. Movement to his right alerted Erwin of another attacker, who was just coming at him, probably taking him for a lesser threat due to his handicap. Erwin stepped swiftly out of his way and turned his body around, shattering the man’s — boy’s — jaw with the force of his left-handed blow. The boy staggered, clutching desperately at the injury and looked up at him with a sudden panic in brown eyes. Erwin caught him by his collar and tossed towards the destroyed door. He dropped his knife in the meantime, not in hurry to use a blade, since the attackers seemed to be unarmed.

“Aim to injure, not kill!” He bellowed, hoping to stop the young soldiers before things got out of hand. He knew these were good kids, but it was hard to tell what would happen in the chaos of the brawl, especially when Eren already looked half-crazed.

He almost went to the shifter to get him of the guy whose face he was beating into a pulp, but the pained cry from Armin stopped him mid-step. He turned around to look for the kid. There he was, backed into a corner by two young men, both taller than him by more than a head. He was already cradling an arm to his chest, the wrist bend at a weird angle, looking broken. His shoulders were still set forward in a determined pose, but it was obvious that he had no chance in this encounter.

Before any of Armin’s attackers managed to make a move, Erwin sprung into action. He hit the one standing on the right side hard with his shoulder and send him to a wall, while grabbing the second one by the hair and pulling him down to smash his face into his knee. The bone broke with a satisfying crunch and the man wailed in pain as Erwin tossed him to the floor, stepping hard on his hand. He turned on his heel, grinding the broken hand into the floor to face the first man. He was already regaining his balance and turning to the Commander with an ugly sneer on his face.

 _Young, too young_ , Erwin thought as he dodged the clumsy blow and, getting closer, elbowed the boy in the ribs. He staggered, but caught his balance quickly, launching himself at Erwin and trying to get on his right side.

He didn’t manage that, but his next blow landed on Erwin’s carefully bandaged ribs, exactly in the place Hanji suspected of being fractured. The Commander hissed in pain, reeling back and his opponent didn’t waste the opportunity, catching him square in the nose. Pain blossomed through his face and chest as the force of the blow threw him on the wall and his vision blurred for a second. He could see the fist flying into his face and even as he was raising his arm, he knew he wouldn’t manage to block it before it connected.

He was saved by Hanji, who somehow produced a heavy plank and hit the boy on the side of his head, knocking him out immediately.

The fight was over, he noticed as soon as he gathered his wits. It was a good thing, since his nose and ribs hurt like hell. He felt gingerly his face and jerked his hand away with a soft hiss of pain. The nose was swollen, obviously broken and judging by the wetness over his upper lip his face had to be drenched in blood. It seemed, however, that his nose and Armin’s wrists were the only serious injuries. The rest seemed to get away with no more than some bruises and scratches, even though Jean sported an impressive shiner under his left eye. The intruders — at least those who hadn’t run away yet — looked much worse. There were several broken noses, few arms and legs, and two guys — the one who had found himself at the business end of Hanji’s plank and the one that had fought Eren — lied in unconscious heaps on the ground. Levi was leaning on the door frame, with his arms crossed on his chest, surveying the room with an impassive face.

Erwin straightened himself and approached one of the attackers who sat on the floor in the middle of the hall, dividing his attention between his left arm and the leg that was bent at an impossible angle. The guy looked older than the rest, and despite pain contorting his dirty face, seemed to be pretty lucid.

“You will leave the premises,” Erwin informed him calmly. “And relay to your superior that we’re not to be disturbed.”

The man looked at Erwin in surprise and snorted with contempt.

“A fancy man with fancy words,” he taunted. His voice was so thick with the local accent that it was difficult to understand him. “Why won’t you invite Tweaky to a fucking tea and ‘relay’ it to him yourself, fucker?”

He spat at Erwin’s shoes and closed his eyes, breathing heavily. The pain must had been getting to him.

Levi pushed himself from his observation spot at the entrance and crossed the room in long, confident strides. He stopped just inches from the guy and grabbed him by a collar, effortlessly hauling him up to look him in the eye. He looked pretty pissed.

“My friend asked nicely. I won’t be nice,” he said quietly. His voice was cold and his accent as heavy as the attacker’s. Erwin saw Jean flinch — and, in all honesty, he was close to flinching himself. He hadn’t heard this tone from Levi since his first expedition. He’d almost forgotten how hateful and dangerous he could sound when he wanted to. “You’re going to scram to whatever hole you crawled from and tell your wimp of the boss that the next time I see any of you around I’m going to get him and personally feed him his own balls. And if he has any doubts if I will do it… He can go to BB and ask him about the Cleaner. I’m sure Bob would _love_ to talk with him.”

That did the trick. The guy paled visibly and a thin veneer of perspiration appeared on his forehead. These few of his friends who were still inside suddenly started to make their way out, as Levi tossed the man back on the floor.

“Oi!” Levi stopped the retreating boys. “Take your pals with you.” He gestured with his head at one of the unconscious intruders. “I don’t have any use for trash.”

After the Tweaky’s crew cleared the building there was a long moment of heavy silence. Levi was still standing in the middle of the room, looking at the broken door with unreadable expression, Erwin was deep in thought (and pain) and the kids seemed pretty awestruck.

“Well, I thought I’ve seen you scary, Shorty, but that was a whole new level,” Hanji finally broke the lull. “But I said, no heavy lifting!”

Levi let out an amused huff.

“Yeah, that fucker was pretty heavy, I guess,” he admitted, tearing his gaze away from the entrance. “But I’m fine. Look at Eyebrows and Artlet first. That big oaf is going to get even uglier with that broken nose.” He cast a glance at Erwin and even through the haze of hurt face and pride it warmed him to see sparks of good humour in Levi’s eyes.

“They say it adds to character.” He smiled weakly, making Hanji chortle.

“I’d say that your nose had enough character already,” they chirped, annoyingly unharmed.

“You’re the one to speak.” Levi’s tone was flat but there it was, that little twitch of his lips Erwin was always happy to see.

“Alright, blondies, upstairs,” Hanji commanded, already in their full doctor mode, while Levi was saying:

“Brats, whoever feels too battered to work, goes get prodded by Hanji. The rest — I want to see that door fixed as soon as possible.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since it's spoilers season, I hope this chapter will lighten the burden of your salt, dear eruri sisters and brothers.   
> Enjoy!

They hadn’t made it to the Lady Margaret this that day, or even a the day after. Patching everyone up took Hanji a long while, and then Levi insisted on fixing anything that could be considered a safety threat. Erwin swore that he caught him more than once glaring at the roofs as if he considered how to cover the whole atrium. More than once Erwin had to stop him from working. Apparently, his tiny Captain was unable to sit back and let his arm heal as he was told, which Erwin noticed with a mix of exasperation and fondness. He was also pretty sure he did some heavy lifting when the Commander’s attention was elsewhere — his grunts of pain in the evenings and amounts of blood on the dressings told as much.

“You can’t keep doing this, Levi,” he scolded him gently the second night— if it was really night. It was hard to tell without any natural light. It was just a few days and Erwin was already feeling disoriented; he had a feeling he wasn’t the only one.

“Keep doing what?” His surly Captain answered, but from how fast he looked away Erwin knew he guessed what it was about. He answered anyway.

“Straining your wound this way. If you keep doing that you’ll never heal.”

“Tch.” Came the expected reply, as Levi flexed his arm carefully, the pained expression appearing on his face. While Erwin was happy that Levi relaxed around him enough to show his discomfort, the hurt visible in his eyes wasn’t a pleasant thing to look at.

“Levi…” He asked quietly, massaging his partner’s palm.

“What do you expect me to do, Erwin?” Levi grumbled. “We need to have this place secure and clean and that’s not gonna do itself.”

“For starters you could stop behaving like there were only two of us here,” Erwin let go of Levi’s hand and brushed the hair from his face tenderly. “We have ten soldiers with us. You can leave the actual clean-up work to them.”

There was a long moment of silence, during which Erwin started to think that Levi had nodded off, while still sitting. It could happen, as he was still on Hanji’s drugs and they seemed to give him mostly medicines that sedated him enough to finally make him sleep. The Commander suspected they did it on purpose.

“I’m going to have clean after them anyway,” the Captain said finally. “I might as well save myself hassle.”

“I was told once”— by Petra, but Erwin refrained from adding that particular piece of information —”that you made Eren clean communal bathrooms with a toothbrush. I strongly believe they know your standards.”

Levi scoffed.

“I didn’t tell him to use only a toothbrush. It was just for the corners and I was only helping the brat.”

That made Erwin smirk as he plopped back on his bedroll, watching his lover with amusement.

“Given your usual expression and tone I don’t think that the kid took it as a friendly advice,” he observed. Levi shrugged and lay carefully on his stomach before facing Erwin.

“It’s not like I tried to _befriend_ that little shitstain. Gods know he gives me enough trouble without that. I dread to think what he’d do if he thought we’re some shitty pals.”

“He has a crush on you, you know?” Erwin observed absently. Levi shot him an incredulous look.

“All that stress finally got to your head, Eyebrows,” he huffed. “You’re seeing things.”

“It’s always nice to hear that your partner considers your mental capabilities impaired,” the Commander teased, running his hand along Levi’s cheek. “But no, I’m not ‘seeing things’. I’ve noticed how that boy acts around you. He’s disciplined, but he never tries so hard to fulfill mine or Hanji’s orders as diligently as he does with you.”

 Levi clicked his tongue, closing his eyes briefly and almost leaning into Erwin’s hand. He was like a cat, really—hungry for affection but too independent to show it unless he forgot himself.

“It’s just because he knows I can and will kick his ass if he starts to whine. With you and Hanji the worst he can expect is talking.”

“Are you saying I don’t command respect?” Erwin asked with a smile, leaning over Levi to steal a kiss. “But I’m serious. I know how a lovesick fool looks like. I have… used to have a mirror.”

The Captain clicked his tongue once again, shoving Erwin away with one hand.

“Well, you can be scary, ,” he admitted with a tiny smile. “But you’re being delusional now. The Jaeger brat respects me, that’s all.”

The Commander sighed, not content with just a tiny peck, but not pushing further.

“I’m not delusional, Levi. And I’m not the only one who sees that. Just today I’ve heard the cadets making fun of him because of it.”

Levi groaned and turned to his side, looking at Erwin with a slight annoyance.

“Fine, I’ll bite. If you’re right then what? I don’t see why I should even care about Jeager’s teenage fantasies.”

“Maybe you should talk to him? Explain, gently, that you’re not interested?” 

That made Levi snort loudly before he did a double take on his lover’s serious expression. He furrowed his brows, watching Erwin carefully.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me, Smith. First: have you ever seen me ‘gently explaining’ anything to anyone? And second: what for? The only thing I see coming out of it is the brat shitting his pants, and that’s a view I’d rather avoid.” 

“I just think he should realize that harbouring any feelings for you is futile.”

“You really should learn to speak like an actual human being if we’re to stay here for a while,” Levi murmured. “And why the fuck are you so hung up on it? He’s sixteen. Even if he is interested in me in that way, it’ll pass. A week from now he’s going to be humping the horse, three days later he’ll try to get a piece of Historia’s royal ass. Don’t you have better things to think about?”

Erwin sighed and turned onto his back. That was actually a pretty good question. Why did Eren bother him so much? He didn’t speak for a while, listening to Levi’s soft breathing and crackling fire, trying to figure out the answer.

“I guess I’m getting upset about the idea of you finding yourself a new lover,” he finally admitted. “I’m a cripple, I can’t offer you anything and I’m not getting any younger.”

Levi made a gagging sound and swatted his forehead. It wasn’t gentle and stung like hell.

“You’re talking with your ass again. I don’t fucking care how many hands you have or how old you are. I’m not leaving your dumb ass anytime soon. And seriously? Jeager? That’s probably the most repulsive thing I’ve ever heard from you and that includes these theories about Titan puke. He’s a fucking child, Erwin.”

“He’s a legal adult…”

“For fuck’s sake, I’m old enough to be his father, Smith! That’s just gross.” He rubbed his eyes, grimacing. “If he’s so adult, tell me: would _you_ fuck the brat?”

Erwin flinched. His Captain made a very good point. The smaller man let out a satisfied grunt.

“Exactly,” he grumbled and reached for Erwin to pull him closer. “Now can we go to sleep before I actually puke on my pillow?”

“Just sleep?” Erwin asked playfully, shuffling to his partner and kissing his neck. That earned him another smack, this time in the ear, as Levi turned on his stomach and made himself comfortable.

“Forget that,” he said, his voice muffled by the pillow. “After what you suggested there’s no way in hell I’ll manage to get it up. That’s your own fault.”

 

 

 

Levi woke up and lay for a moment, looking into the impenetrable darkness of the room before he got up. Erwin was still sleeping, snoring quietly. Levi left him alone. While the contrast between the night and day wasn’t as clearly pronounced here as it was aboveground — and why should it be when there was no light to make any difference — he could feel it in his bones that it was still a few hours before the Underground ‘day’ begun. Which meant, mostly, that most of these poor excuses for a shops that could be found down here would be closed right now. Not that it mattered.

He didn’t bother with lighting a candle, finding his clothes easily in the darkness — another advantage coming from his orderly habits, one he tried to not think about for a long time. If he was honest with himself, it scared him a little, how easily he adapted back to the Underground. He saw Erwin, Hanji and the brats struggling, as their internal clocks went crazy from the lack of sunlight, even if they tried not to show it. They were tired, confused and despondent, even if Hanji attempted to mask it under even louder babbling and Jean butted heads with Eren as twice as often as usual. Erwin was worried, trying to focus on problems at hand, but still distracted by the surroundings. In some twisted way, Levi suspected that the wound he suffered during the escape helped his partner to stay grounded, so he endured all the unnecessary fussing without protests. Levi himself, though? He was fine.

He wasn’t _happy_ to be back home, because the Underground was, without questions, a shitty place to live. Yet, he was home. It was familiar, if not pleasant, to be here. The sounds were well-known to him, the air tasted as it always did. He _belonged_ here, whether he liked it or not. _They_ didn’t.

He shook his head, leaving sleeping Erwin behind and moved outside, where long-burning lanterns, given to them by Yan, were hung on the walls, filling the balconies and the atrium with weak light. There was no use on dwelling on that. There was work to be done. The left wing was mostly cleaned, but there were still a few windows to board — without the sun they were only unnecessary weaknesses in their defence — and he should see what could be done about the stairs on the right side. They had enough place as it was, but Levi wasn’t happy to leave half of the building to rot, not when someone could enter through there unseen. That was the last thing they needed.

For now, however, he turned right and entered the first room they’d cleaned, which was now used as a kitchen and mess hall. Mikasa was sitting there, huddled by a small fire and cupping a bowl of a thin soup they made the previous evening in her hands. The soup reminded Levi of another pressing issue — it was time to face the world and start earning money; they couldn’t live forever on gifts from Yan and Veena. As daunting as it might be, there were thirteen people to feed here and it couldn’t really wait.

“Ackerman,” he greeted the girl. Mikasa flinched and turned around.

“Captain,” she said softly. “I’m sorry, I’ve been thinking.”

Levi shrugged, walking past her and checking the pots standing on the fireplace.

“As far as I know you’re not on the guard duty now. You don’t have to be on high alert all the time,” he turned from the fire. “Is there any hot water?” He asked.

“No, sir. Well, there should be some warm left, but it’s been a while since it was boiled.”

“’ts fine,” he murmured, finding the right container. He refilled it from a bucket standing in the corner of the room and placed back in the fireplace. The steam was starting to rise from the pot when he heard the girl’s voice again.

“We’re not gonna make it out here, are we, Captain?” She asked softly, not looking away from the bowl in her hands. Levi sucked in a deep breath.

He could lie, of course. Tell her everything’s gonna be great and they’ll be back outside the Walls in no time, on their way to win Humanity’s freedom from the Titans. She’d probably even believe him — as smart as she was, she craved some assurance right now and probably would be inclined to believe if he told her what she wished to hear. But she was his subordinate, perhaps even a family… and what was even more important — she trusted him. So he swallowed thickly and poured his tea before he answered with all honesty he could muster:

“I don’t know, Ackerman. I’ll do my best to get y’all out from this shit. But… I don’t know.”

She was quiet for a long while, looking into her soup with closed expression. Finally, she nodded.

“Thank you, Captain.” There was another pause. “How’s your arm?”

“Fine, thanks.” He took a sip from his cup, gathering his thoughts. The silence stretched for a moment, before he added, “I think I’ll be able to wash your scarf today. Sorry it took so long.”

“It’s alright, sir. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

Levi answered with a quiet grunt, drinking his tea slowly. He didn’t exactly feel much better and the wound still hurt as hell anytime he moved his arm, but he was able to work and fight when the need arose and that was good enough for him. Sure, his performance was impaired, but he was pretty sure he could take on most Underground thugs anyway, so everything was fine as long as Kenny didn’t find them. Levi hoped he won’t, or they were really, really fucked.

Soon Jean and Armin appeared, soon followed by Keiji, all of them still bleary from the sleep. Levi didn’t waste any time to get them to work. The vision of Kenny sneaking through one of the insecure windows was enough to make his hairs stand up.

 

Erwin left the bedroom, rubbing his eyes and fully intending to have a tea and breakfast before anything else, just to get stopped in his tracks by the sight on the opposite end of the building. In a weak light of two lanterns he could see there was work underway there, several Corpsmen trying to clean up the rotten planks and stone debris from the ruined stairway. It was fine — that needed to be done. What wasn’t fine was Levi bending to lift a big chunk of rock, that in Commander’s eyes looked as if it weighted almost as much as Captain himself.

“Captain, a word,” he said sternly as he approached working soldiers. Levi looked over his shoulder at Erwin, dropping the rock into a pile they made under the balcony. The thing was really heavy, Erwin could see it in the strain of Levi’s muscles, the flexing tendons on his neck and the face reddened from the effort.

“Sure.” He dusted off his hands and turned to Erwin, looking at him expectantly.

The Commander took Levi’s good arm and led him out of the earshot of their subordinates. Jean stopped his task for a moment, looking after them with a raised brow, but one scowl from Levi send him back to work in a hurry.

Once they were far enough, Levi crossed his arms on his chest, looking up at his partner.

“What’s that?” He asked impatiently. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“That’s exactly what I want to talk about,” Erwin answered, slightly annoyed. “You were explicitly forbidden from doing any heavy lifting. Cleaning debris is exactly what falls under the category of ‘heavy lifting’.”

Levi clicked his tongue, not deterred in the slightest.

“That shit needs to be done and it’s not like we have too many people to do it. You can’t, Hanji and Moblit are working in the back on the plumbing, Historia, Nifa, Connie and Mikasa are on guard duty, Sasha is making lunch and Armin’s injured. That leaves me and these brats,” he gestured with his head to the ruined staircase where Eren, Jean and Keiji were sweating over the heavy rubbish.

“ _You’re_ injured too, Levi. It isn’t so important that you need to hurt yourself in order to do it right now, and even so, it’s perfectly fine for you to delegate tasks, especially when you have medical reasons to do that.”

Levi narrowed his eyes. There was a flicker of fear in it, so brief that Erwin would actually miss it if he wasn’t looking at him so intently.

“There are unbarred windows up there, Smith,” he hissed. “It _is_ _that_ important.”

 Erwin placed his hand on Levi’s jaw, making sure his turned back hid the tender gesture from any onlookers.

“I get it, Levi, I really do. But I’m not going to let you hurt yourself permanently just because you’re scared.”

Levi just turned his eyes away.

“I’m not scared, Smith. It’s just important.”

There was no use in trying to convince him right now, the Commander saw it easily. Levi was a stubborn man and once he convinced himself about something it made no sense to waste energy on changing his mind. But Erwin knew he would stop if given an explicit order or if a suitable distraction was provided — and since the Commander didn’t feel entitled to order him around anymore, not in this situation, the distraction was needed.

“You know what else is important?” He asked. “We need to finally visit Yan and decide our course of action. It’s been delayed long enough as it is.”

The Captain clicked his tongue, giving him a withering look.

“I see what you’re doing here,” he announced. The Commander shrugged. Levi sighed. “Fine, we’ll go. And we should probably take Shitty Glasses with us.”

Erwin gave his lover a radiant smile.

“I’m glad to know you can see reason, Levi.”

“Stop talking shit or I’m going to change my mind, Eyebrows.”

 

 

 

They left soon after, leaving Moblit in charge for the time being. Levi’s shirt collar was popped up again and Hanji changed their favourite goggles for wire glasses. The small man led them confidently through the maze of narrow streets and Erwin tried hard to memorize the way, but had to admit, he got lost after the fifth turn. Old stone buildings mingled with odd wooden constructions and tent-like structures. It was obvious that lots of the areas taken by these hazardous ‘buildings’ were supposed to be wide streets and plazas, according to the original plan. Now the passages were, at best, wide enough for a narrow, man-operated cart to pass and tangled into a confusing labyrinth.  

“This is going to be a nightmare to learn,” Hanji voiced their thoughts quietly. “It seems worse than Ehrmichand _that_ town is a mess.”

Levi shrugged. “That’s what you get for forcing all the poor into a dark hole and leaving the governing to the criminals. Nobody bothers with building regulations.” He looked around and turned left. “It won’t help you yet, but try to learn the layout of the old houses and use it to navigate around here — these shacks are there one day and can disappear the next.”

“I can’t see the ‘old houses’,” Hanji whined. “It’s dark and these sheds cover them all.”

Without a word Levi pointed at red door, lit by a weak lantern, then at a wall with some weird mosaic, barely visible over a roof of one of the lean-tos. 

“You have eyes like a cat, Levi,” Erwin complimented quietly.

“I just know what to look for. Come on, we’re close.”

Some of the shacks cleaned, leaving the streets wider and much less bewildering.

“It’s what we call ‘the little Mitras’,” Levi answered Erwin’s unvoiced question. “It’s a business area, the merchants and other entrepreneurs pay the strongest gangs to keep it cleaner and relatively safer.  Nobody wants to move wares that don’t need to be hidden in the back alleys. Too easy to get jumped.”

“So here’s where the lawful business happens?” Hanji asked and Levi shrugged once again.

“Not necessarily ‘lawful’,” he said. “Most of the goods here were smuggled or stolen at some point. Still, it looks decent enough for the MPs to piss off when they visit. People don’t sell weapons here — at least not physically, arrangements might happen — or openly peddle drugs, the Unicorns don’t mess with them and don’t go any further into the city. In return, gangs don’t attack them, at least as long as they don’t wander where they don’t belong. And the MPs don’t try to do anything more than perfunctory patrols. It’s a delicate balance.”

They entered an open space — a relief after the maze of the makeshift streets — but suddenly Levi tensed and turned to duck behind merchant stalls lining the sides of the plaza. Erwin was confused for a second with the unexpected change of direction, but followed without a word, as did Hanji. His puzzlement soon cleared, when he spotted the familiar white-and-brown of military uniforms in the crowd.

“The Garrison doesn’t come down here,” muttered Levi. “And it’s obviously not us.” The conclusion could be only one.

He led them behind the booths, observing the MPs in the middle of the plaza. A few of them seemed busy with nailing some posters to the lamp poles, while the rest walked around, asking questions and showing smaller sheets of parchment to people.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Erwin murmured, trying to see in the faint light what was on the parchments. He hadn’t had much luck, but the darker spot in the middle, indicated a sketch — with the lines of text below it looked like a wanted poster.

“You’re not alone,” Levi answered, straining his eyes as well. “Whatever this is about, there’s a good chance they’re wasting time. People don’t really talk to them — it’s frowned upon, and as I said earlier, military isn’t really popular here, MPs in particular. Still, I’d like to get a look at one of these.”

“Let’s wait around for a moment. They seem to be almost done with hanging these, maybe they’ll leave soon,” Erwin suggested.

The Captain didn’t look convinced but he nodded, not turning his gaze away from the MPs. “As you wish. But I wouldn’t linger too long, it’s still risky.”

“Just a few minutes,” Erwin promised. “If they won’t be leaving, we’ll go.” Levi nodded, focused on the centre of the plaza and the MPs.

These were young soldiers. Rookies, maybe year or two after finishing their training. Erwin suspected that some of them could be even from other divisions of 104th — they certainly looked young enough. One of them, tall, lanky boy with black hair styled into a very unfortunate bowl cut, finished nailing a sheet of parchment to a stall and turned around, supposedly looking at his superior, hidden from their view by booths.

“That’s the last one, ma’am,” he said flatly, packing his tools into a bag he kept under his feet.

“Good to hear that, Marlo,” the invisible officer answered. “Let’s get out of this stinking dump before we catch fleas or something worse from the scum that lives here.”

Erwin turned around to look at Levi just in time to see that while his whole face remained impassive, his eye twitched slightly. The lanky boy winced too, his expression hidden from his leader, but plainly visible for the scouts hidden nearby. He didn’t comment, though, grabbing his bag in haste and following the swiftly departing patrol.

“I can see why people here don’t like military,” Erwin commented quietly. Levi shrugged, but there was a hint of distaste in his expression.

“The worse they behave the better for us,” he commented, straightening up. “I’m gonna see what is this about and then we go straight to the Lady. Wait here.”

 

As the soldiers disappeared into one of the streets — probably leading to one of the stairways to Mitras — Levi rounded the booth and entered the crowd of the plaza. He didn’t go straight for any of the posters, instead making his rounds around the booths and talking with merchants on his way. When he finally reached the first posters he stopped and, looking quickly around, swiftly tore two down, rolling them into a neat tube. Erwin’s stomach dropped, feeling like it was filled with lead. _That_ certainly was a _very_ bad sign. The Captain wouldn’t risk calling attention to himself like that otherwise.

Soon he was back with them, scowling even more than usual. Hanji spoke first, Erwin’s own fears clear in their voice when they asked, “Was that really necessary?”

Instead of an answer, Levi looked around to make sure that nobody was approaching their hiding spot and shook the posters open. Erwin froze.

The face that looked at him from the parchment was his own, complete with thick eyebrows and the serious expression. He remembered sitting down for that exact picture, two or three years earlier, during one of his many fund-raising endeavours. It was made for a paper, to accompany a propaganda article about the Corps and a lengthy interview in which he tried to convince people that the Survey Corps’ mission is vital for the Humanity’s existence. This time, under the portrait, instead of uplifting words was a simple information: _Erwin Smith, former Commander of disbanded Survey Corps, wanted dead or alive for a high treason._ The reward listed was substantial too, good enough to feed a family of four for a month aboveground.

He didn’t even want to think how much this kind of money might mean to people here. The second poster was for Levi — the picture on this one just a rough sketch, not a very good one, but one Erwin knew well from his own files. To compensate for the quality of image, the author of the poster copied also the description from the official documents; his height, presumed age, colour of the eyes and hair. Apart of that, the accusation of treason and the hefty sum there was also a warning written down: _highly dangerous, approach with caution_.

“At least they got the frown right,” Hanji commented flippantly, though Erwin saw that they were unsettled too.

“Don’t be so smug, Shitty Glasses,” Levi said, his usual monotone turning sour. “There’s one for you as well.”

Erwin sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Anyone else?” He asked.

“How should I know? I didn’t exactly fancy loitering next to my face with a price tag on it,” he snapped, rolling the parchment again. “I don’t think so. I guess there might be one for Jaeger as well, but I haven’t seen myself. I’ll ask Vee or Yan to check it out while we are there.”

Erwin nodded.

“Good thinking, Levi. Let’s get out of here before someone notices the resemblance.”

There was no arguing with that as all of them were eager to get away from the incriminating notices. Fortunately, Lady Margaret turned out to be pretty close and just after a few turns they stood in a narrow alley next to the back entrance to the brothel as Levi knocked on the door. The narrow slot opened and Levi huffed quietly in annoyance.

“Tell Veena or Yan that Lee and his friends want to talk,” he barked, probably sharper than intended. Instead of shuffling of the departing feet, they heard the girl take a deep breath.

“Madame told me to ask what bird brought Izzy to you,” she said, obviously reciting a phrase that didn’t held any meaning for her. Levi stiffened, his nose narrowing slightly with the held breath.

“A pigeon,” he answered softly after a longer moment. “It was a white pigeon.”

There was a vulnerability in his voice, some long forgotten memories rubbing him raw again. He slumped slightly and Erwin itched to touch him, at least put a hand on his shoulder, but he had no way of knowing how would it be received. Fortunately, the chain sounded again and the door swung open, revealing a young girl in a tight dress on the other side. She had noticed Levi’s forlorn expression too and quickly averted her gaze, gesturing to an empty corridor.

“You can wait in Madame’s sitting room,” she said quickly. “I’ll go and fetch her.”

They entered the room at the end of the corridor, furnished with mismatched but comfy furniture. Levi sat heavily in an armchair and Erwin followed his lead, leaving Hanji to chose between two couches. The Captain looked at the floor with an empty expression Erwin knew as one he used to mask a deep emotional turmoil. While he felt for his partner and wanted to ease his burden — whatever it might have been — he also couldn’t stop his jealousy towards Levi’s old friends. He hadn’t even met that Veena woman yet, and he already resented her for being a part of Levi’s past, the memories he never shared with Erwin. These were petty thoughts, ones he was deeply ashamed of  — and he learnt not to pry long time ago. He loved Levi as he was, with all his secrets he wasn’t privy to, but being here, now, with people who knew his partner so much better than he did… It left him with a bitter taste on his tongue and a painful question whether Levi really needed him anymore. He couldn’t fight as he could once, he was out of his depth in the situation they found themselves in, and… there were people Levi could confide in here, people who knew everything that Erwin didn’t.

“Erwin,” Hanji’s voice got his attention. The scientist was looking at him with a stern expression as if they could read his thoughts. “Snap out of it.”

Maybe they could.

“Out of what?” Erwin heard Levi ask and he sighed, preparing some well rounded lie that would hide his inappropriate feelings. He was saved from searching for an excuse by the door swinging open and tall woman entering with a tray in her hands. Her brown, curly hair was pinned high on her head and she smiled, showing a gap of a missing tooth, which oddly rather added than diminished her charm.

“It’s good to see you again, Lee,” she greeted the small man and nodded at Erwin and Hanji. “Will you introduce us?”

“Hello, Vee,” he looked up at her and nodded, gesturing at them. “This is Erwin Smith, my Commander, and this is Hanji. Hanji’s crazy, so you two should get along fine. Guys, this is Veena Mitch, Yan’s sister, Madame of this place and a major pain in my ass in the years before I joined.”

Hanji, who so far was looking owlishly at Madame Veena, abruptly turned their head to look at the Captain.

“’They’re crazy’, says the guy who tends to clean the bottom of the icebox at 3.30 am.” Erwin stifled the smirk he knew Levi wouldn’t appreciate and stood up to greet the host.

While he wasn’t happy to be introduced just as a ‘Commander’, he didn’t miss the possessive ‘my’ in Levi’s sentence, which in his ears was as telling as if he explicitly announced their relationship to everyone. Judging from the sharp look that Veena gave him when he stood up to help her with her tray, she noticed it too.

“It’s my pleasure to make your acquaintance, ma’am,” he said smoothly, bowing deeply and placing a courteous kiss on her hand as soon as the teapot was secure on the table.  “I always wanted to meet Levi’s friends and I can only regret that it doesn’t happen under better circumstances.”

Veena smiled graciously, while Levi rolled his eyes.

“For fuck’s sake, Smith, we’re in an underground brothel, not trying to leech some cash from the pigs in Mitras.” Despite his words, however, the tiny tilt of his lips told Erwin that he was pleased with how he treated the woman .

“I, for one, rather enjoy the Commander’s manners, Lee. You could learn something,” Veena said at the same moment when Erwin answered: “That only means that I can be nice without feeling repulsed with myself, Levi.”

The Captain scoffed.

“Sure, I can learn how to get shanked just for opening my stupid mouth.”

Veena sighed.

“As much as it pains me to agree with this little bandit, he has a point. People here don’t appreciate good manners,” she smiled sadly, pouring the tea into the cups. “And, besides, we’re all friends here. There’s no need for formalities.”

“Bless Rose,” Levi huffed, accepting the cup, though Erwin noticed with an amusement that his brow twitched at the nickname. Oddly enough, he hadn’t said a word, though, refraining even from his withering glares. Erwin felt torn. His jealousy didn’t fade, on the contrary — he wasn’t accustomed to seeing Levi so at ease with people and it irked him slightly to see someone else to be the source of that. On the other hand, Veena Mitch was a really charming woman and Levi didn’t have nearly enough friends, so each one was precious.

“Are y’all alright?” She asked, seating herself next to Hanji and picking up her own cup. “Yan told me you were supposed to come two days ago.”

“We had some unwelcome guests and Levi insisted on cleaning afterwards,” Erwin answered, letting Levi relax with his tea for a moment.

“Ah, yes. There’s a word on the street that some new crew gave Tweaky’s boys trouble,” Veena smiled, leaning back on the couch.

“We had to fix the door. I would consider this trouble as well,” Levi murmured, sipping on his tea, but then straightened, setting the cup down and handling her the rolled posters. “Speaking of trouble, I need someone to check if there’s more of these,” he said. “I tore them down at Wheedler’s Plaza, I’m not sure if the MPs left them anywhere else.”

Vee took the parchments carefully and unrolled them to check the contents. Her smile disappeared, replaced with a thick frown.

“Uhm. That’s a lot of money. Snitching is bad for business, but…” 

“…but there are always those whose business is already bad,” finished Levi solemnly.  Veena just nodded, studying the posters carefully.

“We need to know if there are more of these,” Erwin said. “And figure out what we should and what we need to do about that.”

“Usually I’d tell you to ignore it and laugh at the passing MPs, but this… These rewards usually aren’t half as high,” she observed, rolling the scrolls back. “Well, I’ll send my daughter to check it out,” she decided, causing Levi to raise his brows high in shock. She ignored it, as she smiled, continuing. “And you, my dears, are up for a little makeover.”

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there's tag added in the relationship section. I hope it doesn't upset anyone too much. It's going to be mentioned, it's going to have an impact on the characters, but I'm not planning to go into details. It's in the past. Levi had life before Erwin just like Erwin had life before Levi. 
> 
> I hope it doesn't feel too filler-y. For me it does, but I really try to insert something important for the plot in every chapter.

“You have a daughter?” Levi asked, still having trouble with controlling his usually impassive face. Veena shrugged, hiding a small smile.

“Is it really that surprising, Lee?” She asked. The Captain took a deep breath, finally managing to get himself together.

“I guess not,” he admitted. “Shit, we’re really getting old, aren’t we?”

“Maybe you.” She smiled. “I’m going to be young and alluring until the day I die.” She stood up and opened the door. “Mila, come here, darling!”

 The girl who entered the room just moments later was older than Levi expected — somewhere between eleven and thirteen years old. With her dark hair pinned up in a messy bun and bright, blue eyes she looked nothing like Veena or Yan. Seeing strangers in the room she stopped in the entrance, looking with uncertainty at Veena.

“Ma?” She asked quietly.

“Come here, sweetheart,” Vee smiled and gestured for the kid to enter and close the door. “I want you to meet someone.”

The girl closed the door and approached her mother, still looking rather shy. She wasn’t wearing a dress, Levi noticed, but plain button-up shirt and a pair of sensible slacks.

“Remember Uncle Levi I told you about?” Veena asked and Levi raised his brow in surprise. “The one who left before I got you?”

Mila nodded stiffly.

“Well, that’s him,” she gestured to the Captain with a small smile. The girl’s eyes widened and suddenly, without any explanation she hung on Levi’s neck, hugging him tightly. Hanji snickered.

“Thank you for saving Yan’s leg!” The girl said quickly, squeezing even tighter. Levi send Veena a murderous look over the girl’s shoulder, patting stiffly her back.

“Uhm, yeah, sure kiddo.”

After one more grimace promising eternal torment, Veena chuckled slightly.

“Alright, darling. Let your uncle breathe. I have a task for you.” She picked up the parchments and unrolled them to show the kid. “Your uncle and his friends got into some trouble with the Unicorns. I need you to go to the Wheedler’s plaza, look for more of these posters and tell us who else are they looking for and how much information they have about them.”

The girl read Erwin’s and Levi’s posters and opened her eyes wider.

“Survey Corps?” She almost squealed, making most of the adults wince slightly. “You’re really the Survey Corps?” She finally tore her eyes from Levi to look at Erwin and Hanji. “So you’re the Commander Smith?” She asked Erwin, who smiled politely and nodded. Though it was hard to notice without knowing him, Levi saw that he stiffened slightly.

“As a matter of fact I am,” he admitted despite his obvious discomfort. Levi guessed it made sense. The kid obviously could read and was smart enough to connect the facts, even if Erwin’s face looked eerily like a rotten aubergine. But then Mila turned back to him with a glint in her eyes.

“So, if this is the Commander… Does it mean, uncle, that you’re the famous Captain Levi, Humanity’s Strongest Soldier?”

Levi swallowed quietly, suddenly at loss. He hated that title, even if he never told that anyone, he hated the responsibility that came with it and most of all he hated the adoring look in the teenage girl’s eyes. He saw that expression many times and most of the people who used to look like that at him were dead, usually by his own fault. He was a living disappointment.

Erwin saved him, though maybe ‘saved’ would be a bad word choice.

“Yes, Mila, this is the Captain, Humanity’s Strongest and my right hand,” he said, then moved the stump of his right arm and smiled a little bashfully. “As you can see, I couldn’t manage without him.”  

 _Yeah, bad amputee jokes, great, Eyebrows,_ Levi thought sourly, but then the girl turned back to him with stars in her eyes.

“Really?” Her voice again took an unpleasantly high-pitched note. Probably she couldn’t really help it, being so young. But the next words made Levi go numb. “It’s awesome! I mean you’re even more awesome than I thought and I always thought you were great and in fact you’re even better!” She turned to Veena, who watched the scene with a slightly pained and embarrassed expression. “Ma, uncle is a _hero_ and he _went outside the Walls_ and he _killed Titans_ , why didn’t you tell me that?”

“To avoid this exact reaction, Mila,” she said with a slight cringe. At the same moment something broke in Levi.

Maybe it was the return to his childhood home, maybe the memories it brought — including lifeless, broken bodies of Isabel and Farlan. Maybe it was this amazed, hopeful look he remembered from Petra’s eyes and this awed expression he saw in Oulo and Eld and Gunther and even the stupid titan brat’s face. Maybe it was the discomfort brought by the association with Eren and sudden memory of the very uncomfortable talk about the kid’s feelings. The point was — he had enough.

“Mila, listen to me,” he barked sharply, looking at her with intensity that surprised even him. The girl turned back to him and there was another look he knew well and despised: the sudden fear. There were things that he had to say though. “There’s nothing _awesome_ or _heroic_ or any of that shit in being a Scout. It’s an ugly, grisly job, in which you fail more often than not and each of your failures is someone’s death. Usually these dead people are people you care about and you can’t do a fucking thing about it.”

He took a deep breath and continued. “And at the end of the day, when you sacrifice everything and everyone and you’re still unlucky enough to be breathing, you get back to hear that you’re a waste, you’re a trash, you’re useless and you can’t help thinking that these people who throw rotten tomatoes at your dead and injured are fucking right. And finally, when they get a slightest chance they’ll make you a scapegoat, brand you a traitor and hunt for trying too fucking hard. So cut this shit, stop looking at us like that and think of doing something useful with your life.”

“Mila, darling, why won’t you go out and check these posters for us?” Veena interjected quietly. “And I think that goes without saying, but don’t talk about them to anyone, not even Toby.”

The kid nodded stiffly, leaving quietly and Vee turned to Levi with an apologetic smile on her face.

“Thank you for that, Lee…” She stopped mid-sentence, looking at the man who crumpled in his seat, pressing the palms of his hands deep into his eye sockets. “Lee?”

He didn’t answer, just standing up and leaving the room without looking at anyone. It was too much and he couldn’t afford having a breakdown with everyone in here.

“I’m sorry, I need to check on him,” he heard Erwin say somewhere behind his back as he stepped into the corridor and he cursed quietly, looking for some place to hide before the blond oaf followed him. There was a door on his left which ten years ago led to a spacious linen closet. He took a step, reached for the handle… only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

 

Erwin observed Levi’s outburst with a cold sense of dread. He knew, of course, that deep inside Levi was a really passionate man, feeling strongly about people and issues around him. He suspected, that had he been shaped by different circumstances, ones that wouldn’t require him to be as reserved as he was, he could be borderline hysterical. Erwin sometimes felt frigid, compared to him, unable to care half as much about people around him without getting completely paralyzed.

The thing was that Levi _wasn_ _’t_ shaped by any different circumstances and while caring and passionate he was also a master of keeping a tight lid on all these emotions. He compartmentalized, buried all his feelings deep inside, allowing himself to act only on the barest minimum, just to keep going.

Of course, it exploded from time to time. Once in a few months he’d come to Erwin’s office, a fuming ball of fury. The doors would be slammed, glasses thrown and finally, after a twenty-or-so minutes of venting, Levi would crumble, rest his head on Erwin’s chest and admit that something irked him just a little too much. He’d look guilty, like he was confessing some kind of crime and Erwin would do his best to convince him that he was _allowed_ to feel and to care.

But usually there would be months between these outbursts and they always happened behind the closed door. He would, of course, demonstrate his displeasure to soldiers when he had a good reason and it was always a terrifying sight, but he’d never show his raw underbelly to anyone but Erwin. And now it was third or fourth time in a matter of _days_ and this time he had shown a glimpse of his vulnerability to others. It wasn’t necessarily _bad,_ but it was very unlike his Levi, and it seemed that the man himself realized it too, given his sudden departure.

“I’m sorry, I need to check on him,” he said, and was stepping into the corridor before he even registered what he was doing. Levi was there, looking like a spooked animal, frantically searching for a way to escape. He’d found a way, hand reaching for a nondescript door on his left, when Erwin reached to him, laying a hand on his shoulder.

“Levi…” He started, but then Levi turned around, eyes wide and wild.

“Not here,” he hissed.

Erwin let himself be led through the door Levi intended to use earlier. Before the door close, cutting off any light, he noted that it was a walk-in closet, filled from top to bottom with red and black linens. He smiled slightly. While the previous temper fit was slightly out of character for Levi, hiding in closets was something so endearingly familiar he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to taste his lips now, to kiss him senseless, but there would be lots of awkward stumbling in the dark, unless Levi let him and took lead. Besides, he had something to say first.

“I’m sorry, Levi,” he whispered, respecting his partner’s need for privacy. “Had I known you felt like that, that you hated so much being a Scout, I wouldn’t try to keep you in the force so hard. You were free to go for a long time.”

Levi snorted, the sound as much incredulous as amused.

“Go? Where?” He asked, turning around to face Erwin, even though they couldn’t see each other in the darkness. Or at least Erwin couldn’t, he was never sure with Levi. “Besides, if I left, who would shave that stupid face of yours or pin up your sleeve? I don’t trust anyone else with a razor near your throat. Including yourself. You’re hopeless with your left hand.”

That stung, but Erwin swallowed his hurt. Levi tended to lash out when he was feeling exposed, and it was a fact, that he was still adapting to living without an arm. Before he managed to come up with a suitable answer, Levi sucked air between his teeth loudly.

“Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” He said, his voice small and apologetic. “I didn’t mean…” He trailed off, apparently at the a loss of words. Erwin wrapped his arm around his shoulders, miraculously finding them at first try, and buried his face in Levi’s hair. His warmth was grounding and familiar and despite his hurt and worry, he smiled into that hair, pulling his lover even closer. Sometimes he couldn’t believe his luck, when he realized that despite everything, this tenacious little man let him so close.

“It’s fine, Levi,” he said quietly. “We both know it’s true. But it doesn’t matter, I would manage. I wouldn’t be happy about it, that’s true, but I’d pull through.” He nuzzled the silky hair, regretting it immediately — the careless movement aggravated his broken nose and the pain took his breath away for a second. He composed himself fast, though. He hadn’t finished speaking. “But I am really, truly, terribly sorry if I made you believe that you had no choice. It hasn’t been true for a very long time, love.”

Levi snorted again, wrapping his arms around Erwin’s waist and pressing a cheek to his chest.

“It never ceases to amaze me how you can be a fucking genius and a complete moron at the same time, Smith,” he murmured. “You really think you’d be able to stop me if I ever wanted to leave?”

“Well, I never thought that you hated the job so much.”

Levi shrugged, his breath even against Erwin’s chest.

“Someone has to do it,” he answered, like it was the most obvious thing ever. “Of course I hate that shit. It doesn’t mean I ever thought of leaving.”

“Why?”

Levi snorted, pushing himself away from Erwin.

“You’re really an idiot, Smith,” he said and left without offering any explanation.

Erwin followed Levi who came back to the sitting room where Veena, Hanji and, surprisingly, Yan, waited for them with worried expression. As they entered, they all schooled their faces to the best of their abilities, which were quite considerable in Yan’s and Veena’s case and completely hopeless in Hanji’s.

“You look like you were going to shit yourself, Four Eyes,” Levi commented, apparently agreeing with Erwin. Hanji abandoned any pretenses and pouted.

“But you seemed sooo upseeeet, Shorty!”

As it was to be expected, Levi scowled as he seated himself on an empty sofa. Erwin took the opportunity and sat down next to him.

“I wasn’t upset, you freak, and even if I was, that’s not your business.”

Veena cleared her throat while Yan poured Levi and Erwin fresh tea.

“I believe we have some pressing issues to discuss,” she said with a tiny smile. Levi grunted quietly, leaning forward to take the cups from Yan and passing one to Erwin.

“Yes, we do,” Erwin admitted. “There’s the MP problem, and we need some kind of strategy here to get us up and running.”

“Well, if we need strategy, tell me, what’s the endgame here?” Yan looked at Erwin with curiosity. Levi perked up as well, turning his head slightly towards the Commander. Erwin sighed.

“Honestly, I’ve been thinking about this issue very hard, and I must admit that we’re in a nearly impossible situation. We’re being hunted by the government, the propaganda stripped from us all the public sympathy we might have left. We’re also without any real resources — the only thing we have at our disposal right now are our skills and knowledge. It would be nearly impossible to get us back into our previous position.”

“Geez. Don’t sound so optimistic, Erwin,” Hanji said flatly, adjusting their spectacles on their nose. “It’s not like I have research to continue.” They paled abruptly. “Oh holy Walls, they’re gonna make a mess of my notes.”

Levi scoffed quietly.

“You’ll be lucky if your notes won’t burn.”

If Hanji’s expression was anything to go by, they were close to fainting.

“That is precious research that was never reproduced!” They squeaked. “They won’t!”

“Like they care,” came gruff answer.

“Levi, stop trying to give Hanji a stroke,” Erwin interrupted calmly. “We will worry about the state of their research once we have a real chance to get it back. Now, what was I saying…” he trailed off, setting the teacup on the table. “Ah, yes. The only way I see to win back the public’s good graces back and have a shot at reclaiming our status as a military unit is to perform a feat that nobody can dispute.”

“Human language, Erwin,” Levi reminded him with a scrunched nose.

“I think getting the contents of Eren’s basement and presenting them to the public.”

Hanji gaped at him unashamedly, jaw hanging slack. Levi turned to him, looking like he lost his mind.

“What’s in the basement?” Yan asked tentatively, confused with the exchange.

“We don’t know, but…” Erwin started to answer, just to be interrupted by Levi.

“It doesn’t fucking matter. It’s in fucking Shiganshina. We’ll never get there.”

Erwin just smiled, looking at Levi with infinite patience.

“I never said it will be easy. I said, ‘nearly impossible’. But if we manage to gather enough resources for an expedition, I’ll contact Pixis so he’d let us outside…”

“Pixis? Have you fucking lost your mind?” Levi waved his hands so hard that the tea sloshed out, making a mess on the floor. Levi, for once, was too focused on his outrage to notice. “Pixis fucking betrayed you, and you want to contact him? I haven’t cut you off the fucking noose for you to crawl back on it.”

“Pixis hadn’t betrayed me,” Erwin countered calmly. “Pixis did exactly what he had told me he would. He didn’t want to throw his support behind a lost cause and I can respect that. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t sympathize with us. I strongly believe that his caution was mostly motivated by the fact that he fears what would happen to the Garrison if he lost his influence. We see what happened to the Military Police.”

“I don’t trust that drunken bastard,” Levi hissed. Erwin shrugged.

“You don’t have to. But he’s a good man and I know I can convince him to help us as long as we’re discreet.”

The Captain looked at him for a long, uncomfortable moment and for a while Erwin though that he would press the issue. Much to his surprise, Levi only huffed quietly.

“Fine. I trust your judgement,” he said, his voice sounding oddly raw. Hanji and Yan regarded the Captain carefully, but nobody said a word.

As the moment passed, Veena grunted quietly.

“So, why is that basement so important?” She inquired.

“We have reasons to believe that it might hold important tactical information,” Erwin explained. “Regarding the nature of the Titans and Titan Shifters. If we are not mistaken, this intel might finally give us the edge needed to free the Humanity from the confines of the Walls.”

“That’s a tall order,” Vee observed, picking up her cup and sipping the tea.

“That’s what we’re called to do,” Erwin said smoothly, smiling at Levi’s friends. Levi shifted minutely on his spot, the movement so minuscule that Erwin would have missed it if he wasn’t sitting just next to him.

“And what if there’s nothing valuable in the brat’s basement?” He said, voicing everyone’s concerns.

“We have to hope for the best, Levi. It’s all we’ve got.”

The silence that followed soon started to feel uncomfortable. Levi was staring at his hands, still oblivious to the wet spot on the floor. Hanji was quiet, their eyes darting between the Captain and the Commander nervously. Finally, Yan cleared his throat, giving them a fake smile.

“So, the plan is to launch a military expedition without a military or any support from the government, to retrieve materials that might or might not prove valuable in the future. Sounds great. Where will you start?”

Levi regarded him with one of his murder stares before answering stiffly.

“I thought that BB is our best bet for the start. Right now I need to catch some work because we have thirteen people to feed. I used to work with Bob and he’ll probably be happy to hear that we kicked some Shiners’ asses.”

“Good, I’ll get you in touch then,” Yan nodded. “Anything else you need?”

Levi turned to look questioningly at Erwin and Hanji. Erwin shrugged.

“I don’t think so…”

“Actually, I need some tools,” Hanji cut in. “A few screwdrivers, wrenches, a hammer, the pipes in sizes…” As they rattled out their wishes, Vee stood up, getting a pen and a sheet of paper from a side table.

“Write it down, please, we’ll see what we can find.” Hanji beamed at her, but when they noticed Levi’s scowl, they frowned.

“Don’t look at me like that, it’s for _your_ washroom.” The Captain just clicked his tongue in answer and turned away. Erwin could swear that he looked slightly embarrassed.

“Well, let’s leave him to his work…” Veena started, looking at Hanji who started to jot down their list.

“ _Them,_ ” Levi snapped exasperated. “Hanji’s _they_ , how fucking hard is to get that?”

Veena looked at him startled, as Hanji raised their head from their notes.

“It’s fine, Shorty,” they huffed, blowing a stray hair away from their eyes. “People mix my pronouns all the time and I’m sure Veena didn’t mean anything offensive by that.”

“Of course not, I’m sorry,” Veena said quietly. “I should’ve paid better attention.”

Hanji waved their hand.

“It’s fine,” they said, chuckling. “As I said, it happens all the time, and I cannot lie, I really enjoy the appearances of my very own pint-sized guard hound.”

“I’m not _yours_ , Shitty Eyes,” Levi barked, standing up. “You were saying something, Vee?”

Veena smirked.

“Always charming,” she said, gesturing to the side door. “As I wanted to say, it might be a good time to work on your new image.”

“Notice, how he didn’t say anything about being _pint-sized,_ ” Hanji chirped in with a wide grin. Erwin couldn’t help but chuckle briefly before he straightened his face in a serious expression.

“Hanji, why don’t you give him a break?” He chastised, but from the betrayed look in Levi’s eyes he knew that his laughter didn’t go unnoticed.

“Don’t strain yourself, old man. Go with Vee and do something with these fucking eyebrows. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put a separate bounty on them.”

“What about you, Lee?” Veena asked. “You should do something about your appearance too.”

“No.” Levi crossed his arms on his chest. “I’m not letting you put any shit on my hair or anything. I need to look like myself if I am to meet with BB.”

“Levi, you’re wanted too, don’t be stubborn,” Erwin asked, standing up. “We can’t afford any slip ups.”

“The sketch was shitty and it’s not like I can change my eyes or suddenly grow additional fifty centimeters.” Levi scoffed. “And someone has to keep an eye on the freak and make sure they won’t demand a fucking Titan.”

“Suit yourself,” the Commander just sighed, recognizing a battle lost. He could demand from Levi to subject himself to the Vee’s grooming and Levi would listen, but his arguments were sensible. More than that, he knew what not many knew — that the Captain was very self-conscious about his looks and being forced to alter his appearance would upset him greatly, even if he wouldn’t show it to anyone.

Veena looked like she wanted to press the issue, but thankfully she caught the minuscule shake of Erwin’s head and relented.

“Fine,” she said, gesturing for the Commander to follow her. “I’ll get you once I’m finished with Erwin,” she said to Hanji, who nodded absentmindedly, focused on their notes.

 

“So, you and Lee?” Veena asked as the doors closed behind them and she turned to her dressing table, searching for her supplies.

Erwin stiffened immediately.

“Levi and I what…?” He asked, pretending not to understand the question. From the Veena’s unamused look he could tell it wasn’t working.

“Is it so obvious?” He asked with a deep sigh, recognizing the futileness of it. “I need to work on my face, I guess.”

Veena was a friend, he reminded himself. Levi might not be happy with her knowing, but she wasn’t a danger.

“Oh no, you’re completely fine, Erwin.” She smirked, producing several bottles of hair dyes and other stuff Erwin wasn’t sure purpose of. “It was Levi who gave you away.”

At this, Erwin couldn’t help but stare at her in bewilderment.

“Levi? Did he tell you?” It was hard to believe, but then again, she was a friend. One of the oldest Levi’s friends, at that. Veena waved her hand dismissively.

“He? Told me? If so!” She scoffed in a completely inelegant way. “No, he didn’t. But I knew that boy for more than a few years. It wasn’t hard to notice.”

Erwin thought about Levi’s impassive face, the perfect mask he held always when he was in the company of other people. About his closed off posture and careful avoidance of even lightest touches. Sure, he had a little breakdown, but that had nothing to do with their relationship… except for the fact that Erwin foolishly run after him.

 That must have shown on his face, because Veena put her tools down and looked at him softly.

“I don’t know you enough to tell how you interact with people around you. It’s obvious, that you’re close and you trust each other, but I wouldn’t read too much into it. But Levi… He might want to believe that he’s unreadable, but if you know him well enough… He’s different with you. Softer, more attentive. He used to be similar with Farlan.”

That was a piece of information Levi never shared.

“Levi and Farlan were together?” He asked, feeling the cold sense of dread crawling up his spine. He knew that his Captain deeply cared for the people he lost years ago, but he didn’t know _that._ He had a feeling — no, he _knew_ it was going to return to him in the dead of the night, when he was trying to sleep, but couldn’t, and Levi was off to one of his secret walks he thought Erwin didn’t know about.

Veena nodded, starting to mix some questionable substances in a little bowl.

“Yeah, they were, for years. They didn’t really announce it, but after some time it was really obvious for everyone. Lee was never very comfortable with public affection, but Farlan was much less reserved. I’m going to lighten your brows a bit, so they won’t pop out of your face so much. And I think we should dye your hair. I’d suggest a haircut, it makes wonders to change the shape of the face, but we don’t have much to work with here. You should think about styling it differently, though.”

“I really don’t know a thing about it, Veena. I’ll trust you with that. You were telling me about Levi and Farlan?” He prompted.

“Well, I’m not sure how much I should tell you about them, that’s something you should ask Levi himself. You really didn’t know about them?”

“No, he never told me.  I guess he didn’t think it was important thing to mention.” Still, it hurt a bit to know Levi would hide such a vital part of his old life from him. Though, maybe _hide_ wasn’t the best world. He just didn’t speak much of his past.

“It sounds like Lee. He’d always pretend that the past doesn’t matter, yet he’d stew in it any chance he’d get.”

“Well, I’d say he tries to avoid that. He doesn’t allow himself much rest, always busy with something.”

Vee scoffed, applying the thick paste to Erwin’s brows.

“Typical. Take care of him. He loves you deeply and that makes you probably the only person who can force him to take a break.”

“I try… But I think you’re overstating his feelings. He still treats me as his Commander, and that’s something I don’t want to abuse.”

“It’s good that you’re so considerate, but no, I think you’re reading it wrong. He’s different with you, softer, more attentive. He was similar with Farlan, but I believe that he loves you more than he ever did him.”

“What makes you say that?”

She shrugged.

“Not sure, it’s more of an impression.” She broke off to mix another batch of dye. “I don’t have lots of dyes here, I’ll get you the brown one. And as for Levi… He’s everything he was with Far… But… he let you comfort him. Farlan had to learn to leave him alone when he was feeling vulnerable.”

Erwin leaned his head back, letting Veena put the dye on his hair.

“Maybe. But maybe it’s just the fact that he’s grown up since then.” He suggested.

“Maybe. But he looks at you as if he was afraid you could disappear any moment. And I think that if that happened, it would destroy him. Give the dye some time to work and I’ll get Hanji.”


	7. 6b

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, guys, I'm sorry for that. My planning didn't work out and I was left with a piece of text that isn't really a standalone chapter but more of... an addendum to previous one? I'm sorry. Really.  
> On the bright side, the next chapter - full length one this time - is already finished and I just need to read it over once or twice, so you can expect an update today or tomorrow.

When Erwin got back to the sitting room, Levi welcomed him with a low snicker.

“I always thought your eyebrows were ugly as fuck, but now you just look dumb,” he commented over his tea, his hand holding the cup looking graceful despite the fact that on anyone else this grip would look just awkward.

“Thank you, Levi,” he sighed, already feeling self conscious about his lighter brows and darker hair. “You’re always irreplaceable when I need a confidence boost.”

Levi looked sorry — though it was just a flicker of eyes towards the floor and a quiet grunt instead of further needling. Erwin doubted if many would be able to read this as an apology it was.

“It’s alright,” he said quietly, sitting down next to him. “I guess staying alive is more important than my vanity.”

Levi grunted again, avoiding looking at Erwin. There was something brewing inside again and Erwin wasn’t sure if he was more worried of another uncharacteristic eruption or the idea that his partner was going to let it stew.

Yan entered the room, carrying a tray of food — some cheese, bread and fruits. The Commander stole a glance at Levi, who looked at the tray with a closed expression.

“I thought you might get hungry, you’ve been here a while…” he started, then caught the sight of Levi’s focused face. “Oh fuck, I forgot.”

“Don’t you dare take away that cheese, Mitch,” the Captain said lowly, his voice bordering on threatening.

Erwin groaned. “Levi, you’re going to make yourself sick.”

Levi leaned from his spot to snatch a piece of soft cheese and bit it, looking at Erwin pointedly.

“Don’t think you’re the only one entitled to long sessions on the shitter, No-brows,” he said after swallowing.

“I don’t care how much time you spend in the toilet, Levi, but the last time you pulled stunt like that you were in pain long after,” the Commander sighed.

“It was good cheese. It was worth it.”

“Just try to not overdo it…” Erwin asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose in defeat.

“Can’t promise that. This cheese is good too.”

Yan rolled his eyes, looking to the ceiling in a futile search of some kind of divine guidance. Erwin knew that feeling. Levi could be insufferable at times.

As he picked his own food, the door burst open, showing Veena’s daughter. Her hair was messier than before and her cheeks were rosy from running. Yan looked at her alarmed.

“Is everything alright, darling?” He asked, and Erwin saw Levi stiffen mid-bite.

The girl panted quietly while she shook his head.

“Everything’s fine, Yan. I just got grabbed on the street by a bunch of fuckheads who tried to get into my pants. I broke one’s nose and then some of Linn’s guys came and run them away.”

Levi swallowed the rest of his cheese, standing up.

“Do you want me to go and find them, Yan?” He asked quietly. Yan shook his head.

“No, thank you, but that would be unnecessary. These shitheads are probably far away now, Linn’s boys intervened already and you shouldn’t get into street fights wounded. Besides, we don’t want any of the big players to think that you’re encroaching on their territory. Yet.” He turned to Mila. “Are you sure you’re alright?” He asked the girl.

“Yeah, Uncle. I’m fine. They didn’t manage to do anything and it’s not like it’s the first time it happens.”

Erwin breathed deeply, for the first time fully realizing the difference between the Underground and aboveground cities. Crimes happened, of course, everywhere. But men harassing on the street a girl who was minding her own business? That would be outrageous in every place he ever lived. Here it happened often enough to leave the child completely nonplussed. The girls aboveground expected to get caught in the rain if they dallied outside. Mila expected to get assaulted with the same calm resignation. You couldn’t change the laws of nature, after all.

That was it, the ugly reality of living here.

Levi was looking at the kid — alarmed, like any adult should — but with a deep understanding of the truth Erwin had just discovered. He took in the girl’s flushed face, clothes that were slightly crumpled, but not overly disheveled, nodded and sat back down.

“Fine,” he said. For a moment he seemed like he wanted to add something, but when the words finally came out, Erwin was pretty sure they weren’t what Levi initially intended. “Did you manage to find anything?”

The girl nodded, snatching a plum from the tray Yan brought and bit it, sweet juice trailing down her fingers.

“Oh shit, that’s good,” she moaned with her mouth full and Yan sighed quietly.

“Language, Mila,” he reprimanded her, but there wasn’t much conviction in that. The girl scoffed.

“You and Ma talk like that all the time,” she said, licking the juice from her hand and tossing the seed into an empty bowl left for this purpose.

“Yes, but people aboveground…” Yan sighed. “Tell us what did you learn.”

“So, there’s a poster that calls for any surviving Survey Corps members, without any descriptions. The reward isn’t high at all, barely worth the effort of reading through it,” she answered, cringing slightly. “But there were also several for specific folks. One was for Hugo Branderbauer, but I think it was slightly older and didn’t have anything about military or treason on it,” she looked questioningly at Levi.

“Not one of our own,” Erwin found himself answering. Mila nodded.

“So I thought. There was also one for a squad leader with a weird name. I think it was that woman who was with you… Handi Zoey?”

“Hanji,” Levi nodded. “They’re not a woman, but that’s not important right now.”

The girl shrugged, snatching another fruit.

“On the poster they were described as ‘she’, there was some kind of warning that she…they might be dangerous. Also, a girl called Christa Lenz, blond one, described as tiny with blue eyes.” She swallowed another bite. Levi nodded again, focused on her words.

“Yeah, she’s with us,” he commented.

“Also, there was one for a boy, with a pretty drawing,” Mila continued with her mouth full. “I think his name is Eren? Eren Ye… something.”

Levi turned to the Commander with a deep frown.

“That was predictable, I suppose,” he said. “Eren and Christa, just like earlier, and we probably know why both of them were specifically targeted.”

“We still don’t know enough, I’m afraid. I wish you were able to get more information,” Erwin sighed.

“That was out of the question, Erwin. Our initial plan turned to be too risky with…” He rubbed the bridge of his nose impatiently. “Everything went down to shit. I’m sorry, Erwin.”

“I know you did your best. If anything, it’s my fault.”

Levi scoffed again and Erwin understood what he meant. He was pissed at him for taking the blame again, even though it obviously was his fault his plan — or rather a gamble — failed. He decided to let it go for now. It wasn’t a time, or place, to argue about it.

“Well, I suppose we’re going to have to bring them here too,” he changed the topic slightly. “Thankfully, at least Christa has one of these easy to forget faces.”

Levi grunted his affirmation, when a door opened, showing transformed Hanji. Their hair was short, blond and spiky and their grin was as manic as usual.

“Well, I guess that can’t be helped,” Levi commented. “No matter what you’d do to Hanji, the result will be always a smelly madman.”

“Well, not everyone has it as easy as you,” Hanji replied, running their hand through their hair, feeling it. Levi looked at them blandly.

“Oh, please, it’s enough that you smiled and no one would ever recognize you.”

Yan chuckled. “Oh, my, that’s a disturbing thought. I don’t think I ever saw him smile and, honestly, I’m not sure if I’d like to.”

Levi raised one of his thin brows.

“Fuck you both. I smile. Often.”

Erwin shrugged.

“He does.”

Veena chuckled, looking at both of them with amusement.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure he does,” she drawled. Levi shot Erwin an alarmed look. Erwin shrugged again — it wasn’t like he told her anything, but now it wasn’t a time or place to discuss the issue. Fortunately, Levi caught the hint.

They left soon after, with Yan promising to send them a word with Big Bob’s answer and Veena promising to send them requested supplies. Erwin knew they couldn’t rely on their financial support much longer, but he would take what he could while it was offered.

They returned to their new home, Levi pointing out the important landmarks on their way back. No one bothered them, even if they gathered some greedy looks thanks to their quality shoes and solid clothes. When the headquarters appeared in sight, the new, crude door standing jarringly out from the background of old, weathered constructions, he felt heavy permanentness setting in. His brain — no, his heart — finally catching up with the last few weeks. They were going to stay in here for a long time, probably longer than he ever stayed in one place between travels and expeditions.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here it is, a proper update. I'll admit that I really enjoyed writing this chapter (it's probably one of my faves so far). Also, it seems that I've crossed the magic barrier of 50k words, which would never happen if not for your support (over thousand hits and hundred kudos? wow). So thank you very much and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. 
> 
> (Also, huge thanks to [Pants](http://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenPantaloons/pseuds/GoldenPantaloons) who combed this (and a few other) chapter for mistakes, which was sorely needed as half of it was written when I was almost delirious from the lack of sleep. Also, she finished her eruri story - Betwixt Leaf and Thorn - just a few days ago and surely could use some love. Not to mention that Betwixt is awesome, so just go and read it if you haven't :D)

In the next few days they managed to settle into a comfortable rhythm. Erwin joined Levi in the renovation efforts — and thanks to his vigilance, the Captain’s arm finally started to slowly heal. The grumpy man, of course, wasn’t happy with the constant surveillance, but even he admitted that he preferred Erwin’s calm attention to Hanji’s constant badgering.

The remodelling was going smoothly, and after deciding that they didn’t have the means to fix the collapsed stairway, Levi took Jean and Connie upstairs using the gear and simply boarded all the doors on that balcony. Erwin spent some time with Hanji thinking about the additional roof Levi wanted installed over the inner courtyard, but unfortunately that issue had to wait as well.

Though there was no denying that after four days of waiting for a word from Yan, they had all started to become antsy.  Hanji’s tools dropped more often and their reaction became more and more vehement. Cadets started to give Levi wide berth trying to avoid his vicious snapping. Erwin managed to mostly keep it under control, but he, too, became more irritable as the days passed. Even Moblit, despite his angelic patience, lashed out once or twice, angered by Hanji’s behaviour.

It was almost a week later when Sasha finally announced Yan’s appearance in the base.  Levi almost dropped some complicated hydraulic mechanism he was meticulously cleaning for Hanji and Erwin barely managed to catch the balance and put down the tray of food he was bringing to them at the moment.

“Finally!” Levi scoffed, standing up to open one of the fixed pumps and scrub his grime-covered hands furiously. It was the moment Yan chose to enter, leaning heavily on his cane and wincing slightly.

“I’m sorry it took so long,” he said, looking around. “Is there any place I can sit? My leg is acting up today.”

Moblit swiftly cleaned a box used as a tool table and gestured for Yan to sit.

“Thank you,” the man grumbled, seating himself and closing his eyes briefly in relief before he started to talk.

“It took me a while to get in touch with Bob — he’s grown rather wary in the last few years — and it took him even longer to answer,” he explained, and then bent down to rub his shin. “But he is intrigued and he wants to meet you, Lee. Today.”

“Fuck. I’m filthy as a pig,” he answered, slightly dismayed. “When?”

Yan fished out his pocket watch and looked at it sharply.

“Well, we should hurry. We have about an hour and he set the meeting place on the other end of the city.”

“Let me get clean and we’ll go. Moblit, get him some tea while he waits.” Moblit shot an apologizing look at Hanji and left to fetch the beverage. Levi grumbled something under his breath and Erwin could swear it was about kohl and mirrors, even though he didn’t hear it well.  Yan, who was a bit closer, apparently did.

“I’ll get you a mirror and kohl, princess, but you’ll have to do without it for now, I’m sorry.”

Levi took a sharp, hissing breath.

“I don’t need…” He started, but changed his mind. “Fuck it. Appearances are important and you know it. I don’t want to meet people when I’m looking like shit.”

“You look fine, stop shitting yourself,” Yan answered, completely nonplussed.

Hanji smirked. “If it makes you feel better you have under your eyes bags so black that they almost look like painted on,” they chimed in. “It’s better than kohl if you ask me!”

The look Levi shot them was frigid.

“Nobody asked you anything, Shitty Glasses. Alright, I’m going to change, don’t pester him too much. I want him sane when I get back.”

He turned sharply, the skin on his arms red from scrubbing and left, Erwin followed.

Levi didn’t comment on it as he entered their room, lit two candles, and then started to dig through the clothes he’d picked for himself from the common pile. Erwin followed his lead, deeming his trousers acceptable, but changing into a clean shirt, as Levi spruced himself up.

It was only after he popped his collar and Erwin asked him to pin his sleeve, when Levi turned to him with a bewildered expression.

“What are you doing?” He asked, mechanically reaching up to fulfil Erwin’s request.

“Changing,” Erwin’s answer was calm, as he reached down to turn Levi’s chin up and steal a kiss. “You said it yourself that the appearances are important.”

The Captain wrinkled his nose, looking at Erwin with an unreadable face.

“You’re not coming with me.”

Erwin didn’t offer any protest, and just took a deep breath, deflating.

“I see,” he just said.

Levi’s eyes softened into apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry, Erwin.” He fell silent for a second, struggling with words. “I’d rather have you with me,” he finally said. “But these assholes thought me dead for ten years. There’s trust that needs to be re-established. I can’t barge in there with a person they don’t know. And you still look too…” He bit his lip, searching for the right description.

“Aboveground? Military? Well-fed?”

Levi offered a weak smile that was completely devoid of mirth.

“Yeah, something like that.” He reached up, putting a hand on Erwin’s cheek in a tentative display of affection. “I _will_ introduce you,” he promised. “As soon as these shitheads stop shitting themselves suspecting a trap. It’s just a bad moment right now.”

“You’re right, I get it. It was foolish of me to assume otherwise.” Erwin forced a small smile, but it didn’t seem to fool Levi, who looked at him with an expression Erwin could only interpret as ‘heartbroken’.

He opened his mouth for a moment, looking like he wanted to say something more, hesitated and closed it again, standing on his tiptoes and pressing a forceful kiss on Commander’s lips.

He broke away, straightened his collar once more and looked at Erwin with a soft expression that seemed to confuse even him.

“I…” he started, then bit his lip again, stopping himself.

“Just don’t do anything dumb, while I’m gone.”

With that he left, leaving Erwin alone in a shadowy room, dressed in his best shirt like a moron.

 

It didn’t feel right for Levi to leave Erwin behind. He hated that dejected look that came over his face when he told him he couldn’t go with him. He hated that he really couldn’t go with him. All these years they had each others backs. Or rather, it was Levi who had Erwin’s back, following him like a shadow whenever he was needed. It felt unnatural to take a lead this way. It was Erwin who should go, negotiate contracts and then send Levi off on whatever job was needed to be done.

Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen.

BB hadn’t stayed in power so long by taking unnecessary risks. And Levi didn’t need Yan to inform him how the meeting would go if Bob decided he didn’t like what he saw. Bloody and painfully.

Bringing another person Bob didn’t anticipate would definitely count as “something he wouldn’t like”. And they needed this meeting to go as smoothly as possible.

“You look upset,” Yan said quietly after a while. He was leading them into a district Levi had known from his time living here as Kenny’s primary stalking ground, now supposedly under Big Bob’s influence. He felt uneasy even thinking about getting close to his old home, even though he knew for a fact that Kenny wasn’t living there anymore. Even so, he shot Yan an incredulous look.

“I don’t do ‘upset’,” he answered curtly. Yan chuckled.

“Yeah, sure, you don’t.” He leaned heavily on his cane, the weaker leg obviously giving him trouble. “But, let’s be serious for a while. What’s eating you?”

Levi didn’t answer for a long while. He wasn’t a person for heart-to-hearts so even he was surprised when he finally said:

“It’s Erwin.” Yan turned to him with his eyes wide in the flickering light of the lantern. Apparently, he didn’t expect any answer either. Levi fought down his awkwardness and forced another sentence out. “I don’t think he’s adjusting right.”

“Sina’s tits!” Yan breathed out. “Are _you_ looking for an advice?”

Levi fixed his friend a heavy glare.

“I’m not looking for some shitty advice,” he grumbled. “You fucking asked.”

“I just tried to keep the conversation running. I never expected you to answer.”

“Fine. I won’t next time.” Levi squared his shoulders and pushed his hands into his pockets.  They walked in silence for a while, before Yan spoke again.

“Well, I don’t really know him and don’t have much experience with dealing with abovegrounders. But maybe you could go with him to the Hole? It is always good for them to catch some sun.”

“Maybe.” Levi’s tone was gruff — he was done with the conversation. He tried to ask for help, but after being ridiculed he lost any inclination to talk. Especially that he doubted that it was only darkness that was a problem here.

Yan sighed.

“Fine. Have it your way.”

 

Erwin could have gone back to the baths where Hanji and Moblit were busy restoring the hydraulics to a working order and pretend to be useful. He could also check on the rest of the soldiers assigned minor tasks around the base.  Or look through the watch roster again, verifying if it needed any adjustments.

He didn’t do any of these things. Instead he sat down on the bedding and looked at the flickering flame of the candle. Any task he’d set for himself would be of only superficial assistance.

Of course, everyone would treat him with respect, pretend that his input was important, but Erwin wasn’t stupid. He was a fifth wheel here, just an unnecessary addition to an otherwise smoothly functioning team. He wasn’t able to help much with the physical work around the building — his handicap proved it impossible to him to do most of the tasks needed, except maybe handing out tools and bringing refreshments to ones who worked; and even that help was usually rejected, given his former rank. Levi once scolded him in private for these attempts, saying it was detrimental to the group morale and his authority to see him acting like a servant — of course, language he used was much simpler and cruder, but Erwin understood the sentiment, even if he couldn’t really agree with it.

He wasn’t also as scientifically and technically inclined as Hanji — he wasn’t an inventor, he wasn’t a doctor, he wasn’t a constructor. He was a soldier, a politician and a strategist — and the small group of remaining Corpsmen didn’t need any of these.

For a while he fooled himself into thinking that, at least, he could help his Captain in maintaining contact with the local bosses — but the short conversation moments ago had clearly shown him that it was just a delusion.

The Underground wasn’t his world and he had no idea how to navigate its murky politics. He thought back to the encounter with the rabble that attacked them several days back and his stupid attempt at intimidating a boy with broken arm and leg.

He didn’t fit here. He was too smooth, too polished, too… aboveground. His fighting prowess didn’t mean a thing when he wasn’t able to use his gear. His brain was worthless when he didn’t have an army to command.

He was just a problem for others to dance around and an additional mouth to feed — a mouth that couldn’t give anything back.

 He couldn’t do that to them. He couldn’t do that to Levi. They had enough problems without worrying about a useless cripple.

 

Levi and Yan finally reached their destination: a derelict building in a row of other derelict buildings, surrounded by shacks and boxes inhabited by those too weak to take a claim of one of the actual houses. The area smelled like shit and Levi felt glad for a second that Tweaky’s irresponsible behaviour drove most tenants away from the part of the city they squatted in.

Then, in a corner of his eye he saw an emaciated, dark haired woman, closely hugging a toddler and watching them warily from behind a crude fence, enclosing what was probably her living space. It was enough for the guilt to immediately settle in. He was once one of them; he had no right to think himself above this gunk or wrinkle his nose at the shit surrounding him. It wasn’t their choice to live in it; he should’ve known that better than anyone.

“We’re here,” Yan said, pointing at the door and bringing Levi back to the task at hand.

“This is not Bob’s base,” he observed, slightly wary. While he wanted to trust Yan, years of conditioning took over as he scanned the area — which definitely wasn’t to Bob’s liking. Yan had reasons to want to help him, had reasons to be friendly, but it was years since they’d run together and Levi suddenly realized that he didn’t know how things had changed. Things could happen — and he had no doubt that things _did_ happen — and Yan’s and Veena’s friendliness so far could be an act to get them trapped. Their heads were worth tons of money right now and there might’ve been circumstances that would make them turn on him.

He wouldn’t even blame them.

Yan sighed quietly.

“Of course it isn’t. You were absent for years and he doesn’t know if you’re really the person you claim to be. He wouldn’t agree to show you his current base without verifying your identity first.” He rubbed his temples wearily. “But I understand if you don’t want to go in. We don’t have to.”

Levi took a deep breath, inhaling the pungent odour of shit and waste.

“But if I don’t show myself, the deal is off and we’d have to seek another wanker to crawl into his ass,” he answered, knowing all too well that he needed to face whatever was behind the door. Whether he was paranoid or not, he really didn’t have much choice.

“Basically, yes,” Yan admitted with a sour smile. “I’m sorry, I know you tend to be cautious, but I wasn’t in any position to negotiate.”

“I get it,” Levi answered, flexing his wrist to make sure the knife slid smoothly from its sheath on his forearm. He really got it, even if it didn’t help the shivers that run along his back while he anticipated the worst. The bad feeling in his gut intensified but he forced himself to ignore it. “Let’s go.”

Yan nods and knocks at the door, which then opened just an inch.

“We’re expected,” Yan just said and the door opened wider. Levi immediately disliked the tall, stocky blond standing in the doorway. The details were wrong, but the square jaw and narrow eyes reminded him of Reiner Braun too vividly to just shake it off.  No shifter would work for an Underground lordling, he needed to remind himself. Whatever they wanted, their stakes were much too high to stay cooped in this shithole. He didn’t try to talk himself of his aversion, though. Even if that guy was no Braun he surely was distasteful enough to look at him with disdain.

“That’s the infamous Cleaner?” The guy asked, eyeing Levi critically.  “I didn’t expect a midget.”

Levi felt his old thug persona came out, together with a vehement urge to sock the asshole straight into that smug mug. He exhaled slowly through the nose, keeping his instincts on a tight leash. He needed to show some good will for that business to go smoothly. BB wouldn’t be happy with him mauling one of his guys in a way of greeting.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he answered flatly instead, shouldering his way past him inside. The first room was empty save of a rickety stairway, door on the opposite side and another two beefy thugs watching them warily from the sides of the room.

“Aren’t you all well fed,” he deadpanned, turning back to the Braun’s lookalike. “Where’s your boss?”

“Not so quickly,” the doorman answered, as expected. “Weapons.” He stretched his arm, waiting.

Levi was ready for that, so he complied without protest, drawing a knife from a sheath on his hips and placing it in an outstretched hand. The thug lifted one of his eyebrows expectantly.

That was an old song and dance Levi knew well. He shrugged in a mute “you’ve caught me,” and produced another blade from his boot, laying it atop the first one. The man still waited, so Levi rolled his eyes theatrically and reached under his shirt to pull out a knife secured to his waist by a tight strap of fabric.  


“That’s all?” The not-Braun asked and Levi shrugged again with a flat expression. The guard didn’t believe him, he saw it clearly in his eyes — and for a good reason. Levi still had blades hidden on his forearms and another one secured on his waist by the same band as the last one.

He seemed to consider further inspections but the challenge in Levi’s eyes stopped him from attempting a full body search. Good. BB knew anyway that Levi would smuggle weapons to the meeting — it was really all about posturing, not security. Nobody who counted let themselves to get completely disarmed in the Underground and only the lowest of low were ever forcefully made to relinquish all their weapons. Apparently, Bob ordered them to show him a modicum of respect — probably in case Levi was really Levi. It wouldn’t work well for any of them if his guards caused a fight.

Instead the doorman turned to Yan.

“You too.”

With a dramatic sigh Yan repeated Levi’s theatrics, pulling a knife from his boot and unclasping another from his forearm.

“The cane?” The thug asked suspiciously — also with a good reason, as Levi knew for a fact that all Yan’s canes contained hidden blades. His friend just scowled.

“You wouldn’t take a walking stick from a lame man,” he protested. “And both you and Bob know me, so zip it.”

Not-Reiner relented, nodding minutely.

“Fine,” he agreed. “But no funny business.”

Yan scoffed.

“If I wanted to cause trouble, Arne, pup like you wouldn’t stop me, lame or not.”

Levi filled away the name for further reference as the beefy man scowled, evidently tempted to press the issue.

“Your boss, brat,” Levi interrupted coldly. “Today.”

Arne hesitated for a moment, but something — Levi didn’t care if it was his tone, expression or his reputation — finally made him nod towards the back door.

“Boss’ inside,” he informed him curtly. “Waiting. But we’re gonna keep an eye on you.”

Levi fixed him a flat stare.

“You won’t,” he answered matter-of-factly. “You’re going to wait here like a good boy you are and let the adults talk.”

Arne bristled, but just nodded again to the door with a sour expression, confirming that Levi guessed his position in the pecking order correctly.

“Just fuckin’ go.”

Levi didn’t need any further invitation, but hesitated for a second before touching the awfully dirty doorknob. Yan just sighed with exasperation, catching the handle through his sleeve and pushing the door open. Levi just hoped he caught the brief grateful look he sent his way.

Bob was just like Levi remembered him. A bit older, a bit fatter, with first signs of baldness showing over his forehead — but with the same deceptively jovial smile and the thick, pomaded moustache curling over his upper lip.

“Levi!” He exclaimed joyfully standing up from the table set up with food and wine. “Fuck me sideways, you _are_ alive!”

“I see that you still let that grub live over your mouth,” Levi commented flatly. “One day it’s going to crawl through your nose and eat your shrivelled brain.”

Big Bob laughed — a sound a bit too loud, a bit too boisterous — and gestured widely to the chairs by the table.

“As cheeky as always! Take seats, friends, take seats,” he invited and the researched cheerfulness of that gesture made Levi’s hair stand up. That was Bob’s way of getting allies, he reminded himself. Just a cruder version of Erwin’s politeness. It didn’t mean inevitable betrayal, even if it didn’t necessarily mean actual friendship.

He scanned the room for any threats — thankfully there were only three of them and only one door more — and slunk into one of the offered chairs, facing both of the entryways.

“Did I hear right that you still terrorize guys twice your size?” Bob asked, pouring them wine with an exaggerated flourish. “Your time away hasn’t softened ya?”

Levi narrowed his eyes, observing Bob’s movements warily.

“That’s a part of my charm,” he deadpanned. “It’s not like it takes much to make the brats you employ piss themselves.”

“You weren’t much older than them last time you worked for me. “

“Old enough.”

Bob probably didn’t believe him.  Levi was pretty sure that the man thought him to be much younger than he really was. But that wasn’t important. Bob liked to pretend he was ‘in the know’ — he knew Levi’s given name, for example, and some of his older associates, he knew how he looked. But he didn’t need to know about his private life more than he already knew, and if that meant he took him for a younger man — so be it.

As could be expected, Bob laughed, too loud again and gestured to the feast on the table. Levi saw more impressive ones, of course, having attended noble galas with Erwin. Still, for Underground standards, it was grand. There was a pile of roast ducks and platters of vegetables. Sure, the sauce smelled of mushrooms and among the veggies Levi saw a heap of asparagus — the most popular fare down here, due to the fact that they didn’t need sunlight to grow — but there was also a bowl of green salad and sun-kissed tomatoes, vibrant peppers and broccoli. You didn’t eat like that here unless you were filthy rich.

Of course, given Bob’s recent troubles — if Yan was to be believed — Levi highly doubted he ate like that every day. It was another part of the performance, just like everything else.

 “As you say, my friend, as you say,” the man in question answered with a patronizing note to his tone. “And help yourself. I hope you’ll forgive me this little indulgence. I was so happy to welcome you home, a decent dinner was the least I could do.”

Levi wanted to tell him that if he was so happy to see him he should pack all this shit and let him take it to his team — but that wouldn’t be smart. Bob didn’t need to see his weak points; not yet anyway. So, instead, he reached for the salad and put a big pile of green leaves on his plate, looking Bob straight in the eye. Of all the things offered, salad was probably the most self-indulgent and expensive one.

If Bob understood his statement he didn’t even bat an eye, tearing a leg from a duck and biting into it with passion. Yan daintily picked at the vegetables, listening to the conversation but choosing to not take part for now.

“I can’t say I’m happy to be back,” Levi remarked, slicing his salad into tiny, regular bites. “But I am here. And I need a job.”

Big Bob’s smile widened, the grease from the duck soiling his moustache. Levi bit back his disgust, looking at the man with a closed expression.

“You wanna join my crew?”  The Underground boss asked, particles of spit flying around him. Levi fought not to flinch.

“You know it’s not my style,” he answered, turning his attention to the salad. He imagined Bob’s spit landing on the green leaves and folded his cutlery, leaving it to the side. There was no way he’d eat it now. Apparently, he grew picky in the military. “But I wanna freelance. Like I used to.”

“Ya sure?” Bob asked, putting the picked bone back on his platter. Levi noticed it with an interest — ‘old times Bob’ would rather throw leftovers under the table. He wondered if that was the host’s bow to his well-known sensibilities or a change of another nature. “I could use a man like you in my crew and I’d make you comfortable.”

“I don’t doubt it,” was Levi’s stiff answer. “But I’ve got my own crew and I need to take care of them, not run away to someone else. I’m sorry.”

He wasn’t.

“I see. That boy you bedded and that little spitfire of yours?” Bob guessed. “I could take care of them too.”

It still felt like a hot poker to his insides anytime they were mentioned.

“It’s been long time, Bob,” he forced himself to say. It somehow sounded better than “they’re dead”.

Something must have showed on his face despite his best efforts — there was a flicker of understanding in Bob’s eyes, as he wiped his hands with a napkin — thank Rosa — and turned to Levi with a sharp look.

He forgot about the moustache.

“I would like nothing more than to help you, Levi,” he started and the smaller man tensed. It was finally on. “For the sake of our old, very fruitful, relationship, if nothing else. But you have to understand, there are rumours…”

Levi narrowed his eyes, waiting for the blow to come.

“Tell me, my friend, is that true that you are a green cape these days?”  This time there was nothing friendly in that tone.

Shit. Of course. There were posters, and crude as they were, Bob knew Levi’s given name and how he looked. He knew what he was capable of, and apparently rumours about the “Humanity’s Strongest” trickled down here too. He could expect that BB would connect the dots.

It was no use playing dumb now, he decided.

“Captain Levi Ackerman, Survey Corps 1st Division,” he answered calmly, pouring himself wine, like admitting to the military rank wasn’t one of the biggest crimes among these people. Yan looked up from his plate, white as a bone. Bob’s eyes darkened.

“For the sake of the old times I’ll let ya go, Levi…” He started. Levi didn’t wait for the threat that would come next.

“Kenny the Ripper is a Unicorn officer,” he said, not missing a beat. If there was a thing he could bet on, it was that Bob’s hatred for Kenny and the MPs would prove to be much stronger than his dislike for military in general. “And we were disbanded for stirring too much shit with Mitras’ pig court. There’s a hella big conspiracy up there to keep ya all down here, starving and drowning in your own dung,” he looked at Bob sharply. “There are places out there you could live comfortably in the sun. Big-ass farmlands behind the Wall Rose, abandoned after the Breach. And hella lot more behind Maria. We could all live happy as clams aboveground, never worrying about the next meal. But the King doesn’t want you to. And Kenny’s now in his pocket.”

Bob listened, look of concentration on his face.

“Don’t you want that, Bob?” Levi asked softly, leaning toward him slightly. “To live the rest of your days aboveground, in the sun, like a human being, not a cockroach forced to dig through the shit by folks who couldn’t care less whether you prosper or starve?”

If there was one thing all the undergrounders shared it was the dream of the sun and the hatred for people who forced them to live in darkness.

Bob was silent for a moment, mulling over Levi’s words. Levi prayed he’d learnt enough from Erwin about sweet-talking people to convince him to help.

“Shit. I’m too old to be this dumb,” Bob finally murmured. Louder, he said:

“So, you claim you’re going to get us out here? What about the Titans?”

Levi didn’t try to stop a savage look that came upon his face.

“Titans can be killed.”

Bob scoffed quietly.

“I guess you would know. And Kenny?”

“I’m gonna get that fucker myself,” Levi promised solemnly. He didn’t know the exact history between BB and Kenny, but he knew that Kenny screwed Bob greatly around the same time he abandoned him.

“And what do you want from me?”

“A job. Maybe some contacts in a way of payment. We won’t do shit if we don’t have food and equipment and that shit you have to pay for.”

Bob picked the bridge of his nose.

“Fuck it. Fine. I have some business that could use your touch — but I have some ground rules.”

Levi nodded, waiting for him to continue.

“First, you’re not under my protection. We could negotiate if ya wanted to join me, but I’m not going to stick my back for a bunch of green capes.”

“That’s fine,” Levi answered, taking a sip of his wine. “We can handle ourselves.”

“Second — I hear you gave some grief that dogshit Tweaky. You can stay where you are, but you’re getting him outta picture and the area stays mine.”

Levi scowled a bit, but nodded again. For now that would have to do. Erwin might even manage to get them out of there without expanding their turf and engaging in more unpleasant shit. He didn’t have any doubts that he’d have to get his hands dirty more than once; but maybe it will be possible to save the rest from it.

“Finally — you keep your traps shut about the military. Word will surely come around that you work with me again and some folks will connect the dots, but I don’t want to hear any of your crew confirm that shit. It’s gonna be bad enough without that and I need to take care of my rep.”

“Sure, they are told that anyway. I just figured I won’t insult you playing dumb while we have such a _fruitful history._ ”

Bob didn’t look amused, but turned to Yan, who seemingly ignored their conversation, slicing tomatoes into increasingly smaller pieces.

“Yan, you gonna witness the deal?” He asked. The asked man put down his fork and knife, standing up.

“That’s what I’m here for anyway.”

Bob nodded and then came the most unpleasant part of any deal Levi ever made. Bob spit into his hand and offered it to Levi who fought a painful wince. Instead he spit into his own and clasped it with Bob, cringing internally.

The underground boss turned away to a chest standing under a wall. Levi used this time to quickly wipe his hand, dreaming of the fixed baths in their base. He was slightly surprised when Bob turned back with a small pouch in his hand, which he tossed to the Captain.

“An advance for Tweaky,” he said grimly as Levi pocketed the money. “You’re a first grade asshole, midget, and a fucking madman, but let’s never be said that I treated ya wrong. I’ll check your progress in a few days.”


End file.
